MulanA Parody
by Black Gargie
Summary: FIN What would happen if Mulan is a guy and to be in the war, he has to pretend to be a girl? That's what you get when you have Slam Dunk crew to parodize it! Nya ha ha ha!
1. The Matchmaker's Test

A/N: I just love RuHana pairings in Slam Dunk. I read quite a great deal of Slam Dunk, although I'm not exactly a real fan of it. I do think the do'aho and the kitsune are a match made in heaven.

Disclaimer: I don't own Slam Dunk and its characters, and neither do I own Mulan for that matter. :P

                                                         CHAPTER 1 – MATCHMAKER'S TEST

            "Diligence, loyalty, trust, respect, understanding, forgiving, hardworking…"

            Sakuragi has just gotten out of bed remembering that today was the matchmaker's test day. He took out the scrolls that were meant for him to study and started jotting down the notes onto his arm. He had to—he hadn't studied last night because he was busy doing the chores in the house and playing with other guys just to forget about the nauseating feeling of meeting the matchmaker—_again_.

            Sakuragi Hanamichi was not such a bad-looking character, really. He had the reddest, brightest flaming hair, running down to his shoulders, you have ever seen in the whole world, and his copper-brown eyes are just the most wonderful ones you just can't help loving. He got that hair through a skipped generation of red-heads—his ancestor from his mother's side has red hair. He's tall and built, at about 189cm, and he has incredible stamina and strength. He could take down anyone with just a swipe of his hand or a butt on the head (his head is seriously as hard as steel) and can jump higher than anyone else put together. His arms and feet are tough and strong and unbelievably skillful in holding anything at all with the just the palm of his hand, including his favourite basketball.

            But this wasn't much liked by the girls of the Amazons, for he was born and bred in the half-traditional-half-modern Amazon Island where the role of girls and boys are exactly the opposite—girls go around in battle and do all the important stuff and walk around being tough and all while the guys stay at home to do the household chores or minor things like being a hawker or something. In Amazon Island, the women are the bread-winner of the family. Thank goodness that the nature of things hadn't changed the fact that women still play a role in bearing children, but whether in having sex or having kids or a family, women still is the 'man of the house'. Which is why our dear ol' Sakuragi Hanamichi had failed to pass the matchmaker's test over and over again 5 times in a row. His attitude is so much like a girl and not like those typical timid little boys who walk around lowering their heads while girls keep theirs high. 

            "And the final one…punctuality," Sakuragi muttered to himself again as he wrote down the last piece of the 10 rules of being a husband. The word struck him like a gong. Punctuality…Sakuragi yelped in shock. He was late for the preparation to go for the matchmaking test! And he hadn't even brushed his teeth yet! As he brushed his teeth hastily, he tied the bag of grain to his basketball and rolled it on the ground, spilling the grain around the grass for the chickens to feed on. With the toothbrush still in his mouth, he rushed over to the kitchen to boil his mother's herbal tea. His mother had a bad knee due to her last war and was now retired and resting at home nursing it. After gargling, Sakuragi had just enough time to rush to the ancestral pagoda to bring his mother her tea.

            His mother, Mrs. Sakuragi just came out of the ancestral pagoda after asking for the ancestors to help her son succeed in his matchmaking test. She saw her son bounding up to her holding the cup of herbal tea for her. He was trying to shove in a pair of trousers while buttoning his shirt. Mrs. Sakuragi sighed and shook her head as she took the cup of tea.

            "Here you go, Mom," Sakuragi Hanamichi said as his mother took the tea. "Remember, Mom, 3 cups in the morning and 3 cups at night. You want your knee to heal, right?"

            "I hope you will succeed this time, my son," Mrs. Sakuragi tried to give her son some encouragement but he was too much in a hurry for pep talk.

            "Sorry, Mom! I'm running late! I gotta go, Dad's waiting for me! Don't worry, I'm a tensai, I will prevail! Nya ha ha ha ha ha ha ha~!"

            So saying, Sakuragi Hanamichi bounded off, leaving his mother standing in front of the pagoda with her steaming cup of tea. She sighed and walked back into the pagoda.

            "I think I'll pray some more."

                                                                                    *

            "Where have you been, Hana-chan? You have a test today and you're almost running late!"

            "Sorry, Dad. Overslept," Sakuragi Hanamichi replied as he bounded into the shower house. The cleaning man shook his head in disapproval before stripping him naked and pushed him into the bath. Sakuragi yelped as the scalding hot water gave him a sudden burn.

            "ATSUI-NE~~~!!!!!!!"

             "Well, you were quite late and the water was getting cold, so we had to refill it," Mr. Sakuragi (in Amazon Island, when a couple marries, the man will obtain the wife's surname) told him. He noticed the notes he scribbled on his arm and gave him a disapproving look, but was kind enough not to wash it away—he knew his son very well about his appalling memory. He was then taking to the beauty house and was given a makeover—as in new suit, new hairstyle (Sakuragi insisted on not cutting his long hair), new shoes, new everything. His basketball sifu, Sensei Ansai was also there to wish him luck, giving him a lucky mynah named Noma to make things even better. Sakuragi groaned.

            'I need more than just luck,' he thought nervously. 'I need a miracle!'

            After all said and done, Sakuragi quickly rushed up to the line of other men his age to take the test. People stopped doing whatever their doing to see the event—it's not always that Amazon Island has anything interesting as this. Among all the people before him, he was the tallest (obviously) and he stood out among the rest. They all stood in a single file in front of the matchmaker's house waiting to be called in. Slowly the door of the matchmaker's home opened. There stood Akagi the matchmaker, standing even taller than Sakuragi with dark skin almost like Michael Jordan's and a face which resembles a gorilla, thus earning the nickname by Sakuragi 'The Gori'. His assistant Kokure was walking beside him, holding a writing board. Timid and silent with his glasses, he was the perfect husband any woman wants to marry, but somehow no one did. Probably because he was hangin around with the tall, giant-like Akagi.

            "Sakuragi Hanamichi!" Kokure called out, tapping the writing board with his pen.

            "Hait! The tensai is present!" Sakuragi said cheerfully, standing right away and waving his hand valiantly, sending the townspeople into fits of chortling and laughter. Akagi looked at him in disapproval.

            "Speaking without permission," Akagi muttered as he scribbled onto his board. Sakuragi slapped his head. That was the golden rule of a husband and yet he forgot all about it. He walked awkwardly behind Akagi and Kokure and was ordered to take a seat while Kokure closed the door. Sakuragi gulped in anxiety. This was it. The big test.

            "Recite the 10 rules of being a husband," Akagi said. Sakuragi took off his hat and pretended to look grooming enough as he stole a peek at his arm. He was slightly horrified when he saw that the ink on his arm smudged due to the bath but he recited it anyway.

            "Diligence, speak only when spoken to, royalty…sunimase! Loyalty…trust, respect, understatement…no! understanding, forgiving, hardworking…and, err…" Sakuragi squinted to see the terribly smudged word before he finally blurted, "Punch you in the eye…gomenasai! It's punctuality. Sunimase…Itai!!"

            Akagi grabbed Sakuragi's arm all of a sudden as soon as he finished reciting the 10 golden rules. Sakuragi thought that he had been found but, to his relief, the Gori was checking his hat to see if he was cheating by reading notes in it. So far, so good. Sakuragi thought he saw Kokure giving him a disapproval look, but remained silent. He guessed that Kokure has seen him cheating but was kind enough not to tell. 

            Akagi, on the other hand, glared at Sakuragi suspiciously before returning the hat to Sakuragi. Unknowingly, Akagi had smeared his hand on the ink while he grabbed his arm that has the notes on, and as he rubbed his chin while giving a sort of sermon to Sakuragi about the importance of practicing the golden rules, the ink blackened his chin, forming a sort of beard on it. Sakuragi tried very hard not to scoff. Kokure wanted to voice it out but seeing that Akagi didn't wish to be interrupted, he hid a smile and pretended not to see it.

            "And now, Sakuragi, the tea pouring ritual," Akagi brought the struggling-not-to-laugh Sakuragi back into reality. Sakuragi collected himself before reaching his hands charmingly towards the teapot, just to impress the Gori. He poured the tea 3-quarterly full, just like his father taught him to and handed it to Akagi. The Gori let out a sideways smile; he was finally and actually impressed at his change of attitude. As Sakuragi sat quietly in front of Akagi while the Gori drank his tea, he noticed something horrifying.

            The mynah, Noma, actually got out of the small cage that hung at his belt and it was fluttering above Akagi's head, flying round and round to look for a nice spot to rest. As soon as Noma found one right in the middle of Akagi's squarish hairstyle, he descended on it and sat there, not moving an inch. Sakuragi was horrified. If the Gori were to find out that Noma the lucky mynah actually made a nest out of his hair, he'll be in deep shit! While Akagi wasn't aware of this intrusion on his head, Sakuragi decided to clear things up.

            "Err…Annou…Gomene…"

            "You are to speak when you are spoken to, young man! Have you forgotten the golden rule?" Akagi's booming voice shot through his ears. Sakuragi winced before climbing up onto the table.

            "Hait, I know that…but, uh…I need to get this…off your head…" 

            "What thing? There's nothing on my head! Hey!!"

            Before he knew it, Sakuragi was already pouncing onto Akagi's head as he tried to catch the bird. He wanted to clasp his hands onto Noma but ended up slapping Akagi's head instead. He stood a little higher on the table trying to get Noma who was fluttering up the ceiling out of his reach and as he leaned forward, Akagi was so taken aback that he leaned too far back and ended up sitting on a basket of sharp-tipped combs (it was a sort of 'diploma' when a man passes the test—the matchmaker will slip the comb into the man's hair). They stung his butt like sea-urchins and Akagi yelped in pain. He stood up abruptly and hit his forehead against Sakuragi's forehead in the process. Kokure watched all of this with a face of horror.

            Bad move. Sakuragi Hanamichi was very well-known with a forehead of steel and anyone who gets in serious contact with it will blackout for about, say, 15 minutes tops. Lucky for ours truly Sakuragi, his matchmaker the Gori was able to withstand the accidental head butt due to his tall and strong built, but he couldn't help feeling a little woozy because the head butt came to him as a surprise. He swooned and walked in an irregular file and soon found himself bursting out of his own house and falling onto the porch. When he got back to his senses, he found himself lying on his stomach on the porch floor with all the sharp-tipped combs sticking out of his butt (this scene is a _little bit_ familiar, don't you think?).

            Judging by the dangerous look on the Gori's face when Sakuragi came over to help him get up, he was sure that he was in for a very, VERY big trouble. Noma has finally being in the mercy of his strong hands and back into his cage, but he knew that the worst is not over. And sure enough, Akagi was starting to yell and pointing an accusing finger at the young redhead after his assistant Kokure came over and helped him up instead. 

            "You are a walking disaster! You are a bringer of all chaos and calamity! You are nothing but sheer trouble! Mr. Sakuragi," Akagi turned to Sakuragi's father with a pair of fire-breathing eyes, "I suggest you take your son home here and tell him not to waste anymore of my time trying to pass any test for him! He may look like the perfect groom, but he'll never _ever_ be a real groom or a husband!!"

A/N: Ouch, that's gotta hurt, doesn't it? Poor Sakuragi Hanamichi, my bishounen! ~_~ Anyway, reviews plz! 


	2. The Announcement of War

A/N: Now, let us get into the next scene of this Mulan parody! Have fun!

Disclaimer: I don't own Slam Dunk and its characters, and neither do I own Mulan for that matter. :P

                                                CHAPTER 2 – THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF WAR

            Sakuragi brooded all the way back home, thinking about the disastrous day he had endured with the legendary Gori. Somehow, since the first matchmaking test, the Gori never had a liking towards him. He was always knocked in the head with his concrete fist and was told that he would never make it to be a groom with that girlish attitude like his. Well, in Amazon Island, if you're a boy and you act tough and all that like a girl, you are considered girlish, almost like if you're a girl and you act like a boy, you're a tomboy kind of thing. To Akagi, he was all girl and no man. He always told to be acting like a boy—timid and loyal and speak when you're spoken to—but he couldn't help it! He was born that way! He can't help it if he's the only child in the family—and a boy for that matter—and so happens to love action and adventure his mother used to do during the war. Why can't they just let him be? Why can't they just let him do what he wants and be himself? Why, why, why?!

            Before he knew it, he already found himself walking into his home at the front yard. He looked up and saw his mother, Mrs. Sakuragi, her face filled with anticipation and hope of his son finally succeeding in his test. Sakuragi felt really ashamed. He looked away and bounded off, running past his mother to his room. He stripped himself of the ridiculous suit he was wearing for the test and changed into his sports clothes before he barged towards the large garden behind his home. He passed by the goldfish pond and stared at his reflection: a tall, awkward, strong and built yet handsome redhead whom no one will ever marry, not for the gold in the world.

            "Hana-chan?"

            Sakuragi turned around at his mother's voice. Mrs. Sakuragi stepped closer towards her son and sat beside him by the pond. Sakuragi slowly looked away; he was too embarrassed for failing the test the 6th time in so many years.

            "It's alright, Hana-chan. You've tried your best," Mrs Sakuragi said kindly and calmly.

            "I screwed up, Mom…My life is totally ruined! That Gori said I'm not fit to be anyone's husband," Sakuragi said gloomily.

            "Nonsense, Hana-chan. You're tall just like your great-great grandmother, you have beautiful red hair just like the ancestors before you, you have those beautiful copper-brown eyes like your Dad, and you are strong just like me. You will get yourself a great wife and she will love you unconditionally."

            "That's just it, Mom," Sakuragi frowned. "I'm not like other boys that are small and timid and listen to whatever the girls tell them to do and ignored at unless someone actually talks to him. I'm…I'm like a girl! I do chores terribly, I don't hang out with boys the same age as me, I even entered basketball and let Sensei Ansai to coach me, even though all the girls laughed and called me girlish. Sooner or later, I'll turn into a matchmaker and won't marry at all, like the Gori! He's still single until now!"

            Mrs. Sakuragi shook her head slightly and turned to the goldfish in the pond. She pointed at a juvenile male goldfish who stayed at a small corner while the other male goldfish mingled around with the females, "You see that fish?"

            Sakuragi turned to where she was pointing and nodded.

            "That, my Hana-chan, is a late bloomer. I've been observing him for a very long time now. The mating season has started a week ago, but he still remained there, not moving and not swimming at all, except that he still eats. He maybe late in joining in the mating seasons, but I can tell you, once he's ready to mate, he'll the most outstanding of all, just like you, my tensai Hana-chan."

            Sakuragi stared at the fish for a while, then looked at his mother's kind smiling face and smiled back. He stood up abruptly with a finger pointing to the sky as he exclaimed, "Yes!!! That's right!! I'm a tensai! I will prevail!!! Nya ha ha ha ha ha~!!!"

            Mrs. Sakuragi sighed and shook her head weakly. He was her only son, and she favoured him the most when it comes to him and her husband. He was like the daughter she never had—funny, outgoing, outspoken, tough, strong and always happy and gay. And speaking of gay, she also had a small suspicion that her son is actually gay, because she noticed that when he was around girls he would be so devilish and wild, just like any other girl, but when he's around guys, he would automatically switch to the gentleman mode, making himself look like he was born to impress men. Not that she had anything against her son's 'interests', but she was afraid that his 'interests' would bring further damage more to his son than to the family (as I said, she favours more than anything else). Which is why she hoped that Sakuragi would hurry up and get married so that the gayness would be suppressed.

            While Sakuragi was getting all his hopes high again, a trumpet suddenly blew. Mrs. Sakuragi knew this kind of trumpet sound very well—it was a sign that war was near. Everyone moved out of their homes to see what was going on. There, on a magnificent stallion, sat the Amazon Island's Queen, Queen Ayako's counselor Hikoichi and a few more soldiers (women, of course) behind him. He was chosen as counselor for his skills of writing and taking notes, so he was often trusted with important paperwork. As everyone looked at the counselor quizzically, Hikoichi cleared his throat and opened a scroll.

            "Our island is under siege and the Queen needs extra people to join the war. The family whose name has been read out from this scroll must send in a woman in the family to report to the training grounds at the forests of Gaia tomorrow morning," Hikoichi announced before reading the scroll, "The Murada family, the Kimura family, the Tateno family, the Fujisaki family…"

            And the list went on. One by one, a daughter would come up to take the report scroll. Sakuragi watched in fascination. He had heard stories about being sent out to war, but that was his mother's time. As he continued to watch, Hikoichi suddenly announced, "The Sakuragi family!"

            Sakuragi gasped. His family was also chosen?! But…But his family has no girls! He's a boy! He doesn't have a sister or a girl cousin or any female relatives in his family, why was his family chosen? If he's not the one they want, then it has to be…

            Just as he feared, his mother Mrs. Sakuragi handed her walking stick to her husband and walked towards Hikoichi's horse in a hobbling manner. She stood tall and took the scroll from Hikoichi. Sakuragi was filled with anxiety. Without thinking twice, he ran towards the Queen's counselor and yelled, "No, you can't! You can't do this to my Mom! Can't you see she's having a bad knee? She's not fit to fight in the war!"

            "Mrs. Sakuragi," Hikoichi said haughtily. "I suggest you teach your son to mind his manners and speak when he's spoken to."

            "Here we go again! Another 'speak when you're spoken' crap! I just don't understand why you _girls_ have all the power to…" Sakuragi's ranting and raving was stopped by his mother's stern voice.

            "Hanamichi, you dishonour me."

            Sakuragi wanted to protest but when his mother started calling him by 'Hanamichi' instead of 'Hana-chan', he knew she meant business, and that means 'Urusai' for him. He shut his pie-hole and stepped aside. Hikoichi handed the last two scrolls to the Hosokawa family and the Kurita family before riding away, his henchwomen following him behind. As soon as Hikoichi was out of earshot, Sakuragi wanted to speak his mind about his mother volunteering to fight in the war, but she made clear to his son that she didn't want to talk about it when she just passed him by without a word.

            Sakuragi didn't know which was worse: being ignored by his beloved Mom who had met his every whim and fancy or losing her out in the battle he knew she'll never win.

                                                                                                *

            The whole dining room fell as silent as the graveyard as the Sakuragi family sat down for dinner that night. No one said a word about that afternoon's incident with Sakuragi's outburst and about Mrs. Sakuragi going out to war. Mr. Sakuragi has already been trained to be a diligent, ask-no-questions type of husband, so it's no big surprise that he took everything in without a word. And for the first time in his life, Sakuragi Hanamichi actually has no appetite to eat (at usual time, he could eat about 4 bowls of rice).

            Almost suddenly, Sakuragi thumped his bowl of rice onto the table. He couldn't stand being quiet anymore about all this. He turned sharply to his mother and said, "I can't take it anymore! You shouldn't have accepted that scroll!"

            "Hana-chan, I've made my decision to serve the Queen," Mrs. Sakuragi was not at all perturbed with her son's sudden outburst. "It was my duty to protect the Queen when the last war occurred and it is my duty now to continue protecting her."

            "So you rather risk your life for the Queen and risk your health over her? There are millions of girls out there who are young and can fight! They don't have to depend only on you! You're not the only woman in the whole wide world! That Queen is a baka for thinking that…"

            "Urusai, Hana-chan!" Mrs. Sakuragi said sternly, glaring at him. "You will not say mean things about the honourable Queen and say things that'll dishonour our namesake!"

            "Screw our namesake! Baka! Baka, baka, baka!!!"

            Sakuragi ran off from the dining room, leaving his food untouched. Mr. Sakuragi wanted to rush over to talk to him but his wife forbade him to do so. It was raining outside, and it drenched the young redhead from head to toe. No one came out to coax him, and he knew that his mother had made it clear to his father that he shouldn't be inside until he has come to his senses. From the garden, he saw his mother tried to do some stunt moves with the family sword and her sitting abruptly due to her bad knee. His father came in and tried to talk to her but she wouldn't hear of it. Sakuragi understood where he got the hard-headed and indignant attitude from. 

            He continued to stand under the rain and let it drench him seriously. He began to contemplate about the reason of his life and his existence throughout his whole life. Why was he born in a land where men are patronized? Why couldn't he be just like everyone else? Why did his mother insist on going out to this war even though she knew that she was going to die out there leaving him and his father all alone? Why are all girls trying to act tough and all and expect men to be a goody two-shoed person…?

            That was when he made his decision. He ran all the way to the ancestral pagoda and lit a candle, which was Amazon Island tradition when you want to pray to the ancestors. He prayed for protection and forgiveness before hurrying back into the house. After making himself decently dry a bit, he grabbed a few ribbons and a bra from his mother's dressing table and also the scroll, replacing it with his basketball. He rushed to the weaponry and armour room and took out his mother's war clothes and the family sword. He took the few girly ribbons and tied his hair into two pony tails, trying to sell himself off as a girl. To sell himself even more as a girl, he tried stuffing cloths into the bra to make him look 'fuller'. After watching himself in the mirror and tried to convince himself that he looked no different than a common girl, he quickly walked towards the stables and got his family stallion Oukutsu. He was quite a strong horse with blonde, magnificent flowing name and had an attitude of his own. At first when Sakuragi came into the stables in his woman armour, Oukutsu was shocked to see an intruder, but Sakuragi came over to calm him down, whispering "It's me" before running off out of the house and into the rain down the cold valley towards the forests of Gaia.

            When Mrs. Sakuragi woke up with a start at the loud boom of thunder outside, the first thing that caught her eye was Sakuragi's basketball. She couldn't find her report scroll anywhere. Her heart was filled with horror as she ran towards the armour room and sure enough, she found her armour and the family sword missing. She rushed to the stables and saw that Oukutsu the family stallion was gone and that the front gate was wide open. She knew it. She knew that her son would do such a foolish thing as this. Mr. Sakuragi came forward to his wife and begged, "We must save him and bring him back! He'll die out there!"

            "If we reveal him," Mrs. Sakuragi held his husband back, "he'll die too."

A/N: Oh no!! Is this considered foolishness or bravery? I dunno. Reviews plz! 


	3. The Transformation

A/N: So, how'd you guys like it so far? Thanks for all the support given by my friend Cool Blue Firefox and also to you all. Now, let's enjoy this wacky parody and see how far has our truly Sakuragi gone in his mission to help his mother. This part has a little bit of the same concept with Late-Sleeper's fic, so forgive me and a disclaimer is needed here. ^_^

Disclaimer: I don't own Slam Dunk and its characters, and neither do I own Mulan for that matter. :P

                                                            CHAPTER 3 – THE TRANSFORMATION 

            As the thunder boomed throughout the night and all the way to dawn, an eerie silence hung over the ancestral pagoda where the statue of all the fallen warriors and relatives of the Sakuragi bloodline lay. Besides lighting a candle every time you want to pray to the ancestors, the Amazon Island people carve a miniature statue of the person who died 7 dasy after his/her death to be placed inside the pagoda. The folklore of the Amazons about these statues is that if you really have a serious trouble and you pray to the ancestors for help, they will come alive in the middle of the night and discuss the problems together before giving their living family a sign on how to solve that problem.

            And that's exactly how it happened. It wasn't much of a folklore at all. As soon as Mrs. Sakuragi made a silent prayer to the ancestors that they protect her son and keep him from harm before going into the house with her husband, the pagoda soon became bright and glowing and one of the statues began to grow into full human size and stood tall among the rest of the mini statues before his feet. He had a really long beard and a plump body, with a majestic aura around him which made him looked like the first of the Sakuragi family. His body was the colour of the oak that he was made of and as he stretched his body, he bellowed and summoned a bronze cat that holds the candles lit for them to awaken.

            "Mido!"

            Almost immediately, the bronze cat blinked its eyes and the bronze covering fell off it like powder. It put down all the candles that it held and looked up to the old man, "Hait, kobanwa! What can I do for you, Ojisan Sakuragi?"

            "Wake all the ancestors up, Mido," the man the cat called Ojisan Sakuragi replied. "We have a crisis at hand."

            Mido the bronze neko obeyed. He walked towards each and every statue and nuzzled his nose at theirs, and within second, they grew into full human size one by one, making the pagoda pretty crowded. Almost at once, they started bickering.

            "I knew it! I knew that Hanamichi is just a troublemaker!"

            "Well, he certainly didn't come from my side of the family!"

            "Neither is he from _my_ side of the family! We are perfectly civilized and noble for the likes of this little ragamuffin redhead! He doesn't act like the boy he should be!"

            "Of course not! Your son was a gigolo before he was taken as my lovely redhead daughter's husband! I bet that's where he got all that spunk from!"

            The bickering went on and on, each ancestor blaming another for the reason Sakuragi acted this way. Their argument came in all at once that it made the whole pagoda sounded like the market just moved in to town. Ojisan Sakuragi looked at them silently for a few minutes before clearing his throat to make himself heard. Slowly, they ceased bickering one by one.

            "Now that I have your attention, I would like you to discuss about how we are going to keep our Hanamichi from the harms of war. After all, he is our next of kin," Ojisan Sakuragi said in a leveled tone. Everyone nodded.

            "Well, he only went out of the house for about 10 minutes or so," an ancestor from Mr. Sakuragi's side said. "He might not be far. The forest of Gaia is much further a distance from here."

            "Yes. We should send someone to take him back before it's too late," another one agreed, which came from way back of the woody crowd.

            "Very well then," Ojisan Sakuragi nodded in satisfactory at this good idea. "Who wants to go and fetch Hanamichi back from the war zone before he gets himself killed?"

            No one said anything. None of them wanted to have anything to do with the girlish Sakuragi Hanamichi even if their lives depended on it (that is, if they still have life left). Obviously Sakuragi has done enough damage in life to make even the ancestors wary of him. Ojisan Sakuragi sighed. He had expected this.

            "Please? Anyone? He's is, after all, our descendant."

            "I'll go."

            Everyone turned to the timid voice coming from Mido the bronze neko. His eyes flashed in eagerness as he looked from one ancestor to another. They all looked back at him as if he had announced that he was going to become the goddess of Amazon Island. Ojisan Sakuragi lowered himself until he was the same level of height as the bronze cat. Though the bronze has come off his body, his eyes remained bronze. A really magnificent bronze indeed.

            "Are you sure you want to do this? You know that danger is afoot once you set foot out of this pagoda and into the wide world, don't you?"

            "Yes, of course. But I own him a favour and it is time for me to finally pay it back."

            "Favour?"

            It turned out that a few years ago, when Sakuragi was about 5 years old—give or take—Mido's bronze tail was broken when one of the chickens flew the coop and broke it while trying to escape from the hysterical Sakuragi Hanamichi during last spring. Sakuragi caught sight of the poor chap's broken tail, and with some superglue he got from the shed behind the house, he glued the tail back into place and placed a candle for him to hold, just for 'good health'. Mido had felt in debt with Sakuragi since then.

            "I will go to the ends of the earth just for Master Hanamichi because of this," Mido said. "It's a very appalling thing for cats to lose their tails. A very unhounourable thing it is."

            Ojisan Sakuragi considered a moment and rubbed his chin, looking at the tiny cat with bronze eyes. He looked at the other ancestors and they all nodded in agreement. Ojisan Sakuragi sighed and patted Mido and replied, "Oh well, since no one else around here wants to volunteer and Mido is willing to venture out into the humanly open, I suppose I'll have to agree that you go after our Hanamichi. Remember, Mido, you must bring him back safe and sound and try to keep him out of trouble. It's a jungle out there, and I mean a real jungle for the likes of you."

            Mido nodded eagerly and replied, "I will not fail you, Ojisan Sakuragi! I will bring Master Hanamichi home without a scratch on him. Trust me on this!"

            As he scurried down the pagoda and out of the Sakuragi home compound, Ojisan Sakuragi looked out from the pagoda and before he shrank back into his statue size as the dawn began to hit, he muttered, "May the gods and goddesses protect Mido and Hanamichi."

                                                                                                *

            "Hi, I am so glad to be with you girls. How do you…OK, that's lame."

            Sakuragi Hanamichi was in the forests of Gaia and about a few miles away from camp, hiding from view. He didn't want anyone from the camp to see him there without being thoroughly prepared. He was afraid that if he ever walked in just like that, the girls would see right through him immediately. He was now keeping a safe, inconspicuous distance from the camp to practice how to actually sound like a girl.

            "Hey, girls! What's kickin' around here? Wanna check out my sword?" Sakuragi practiced again, trying to pull out the sword as majestically as his mother used to do, but it couldn't come out. Oukutsu whinnied a horse laugh and earned a head butt in return.

            "I'm working on it, OK?! I may used to hang out with girls back in town but I never actually go out for war like this!!" Sakuragi yelled at his kaput stallion. "Well, gang-fights might be excluded, but then again I never dress up as a girl…"

            "Do you need my help?"

            Sakuragi turned around and saw a cat with a pair of bronze eyes staring back at him. On top of his head was Noma the lucky mynah. It looks like the mynah also took the liberty to follow the cat to save his master, whom he had a fondness of. Sakuragi and the cat stared at each other for a really long time. The cat decided to break the ice.

            "Hello, Master Hanamichi. My name is Mido. Can I be of your assistance?"

            "YAGH~!!! A talking cat~!!! A demon~!!! YAGH~!!!" Sakuragi immediately went into a fit of hysterical yelling as he saw the bizarre oddity displayed in front of him. Mido sighed and shook his head in dismay.

            "The ever gullible Master Hanamichi," Mido sighed before explaining himself calmly. "Don't worry, Master Hanamichi. I am sent by Ojisan Sakuragi, your ancestor to guide you on this quest. Well, actually he wanted me to send you back home, but I know you, so…"

            "Ojisan Sakuragi?" Sakuragi Hanamichi said as he sat on top of Oukutsu. "You mean you were sent by my great-great-great-great-great…grandpa to send me home?" His face showed a little sing of relief, but after realizing something, his face changed sternly. "Hey, I'm not going back! I've come all the way here just to help my mother to fight this war and not get her killed! I'm not going back! You go back and tell Ojisan Sakuragi about that!"

            "I knew you would say that, that's why I've changed my mind of sending you back," Mido smiled. "I'm here to help you go through this war."

            "You…You will?" Sakuragi asked as he got off Oukutsu. "But…But why? What have I done to deserve your servitude?"

            "Remember the chicken that flew the coop and broke the tail of the neko candle holder?" Mido asked as he wagged his tail at Sakuragi. "That's me!"

            Sakuragi stared at Mido as the memory came back. He picked up the bronze-eyed cat and smiled, "Oh, so it's you! Long time no see! So, uh, how are you going to help me out?"

            "Leave that to me," Mido said and leaned forward to lick the tip of Sakuragi's nose. Sakuragi sneezed and let go of Mido in the process. He was about to rub his nose but Mido stopped him, "Don't rub it! Stop! Just take off your clothes now."

            "Take of my clothes? Doushite?" 

            "Just wait and see."

            Sakuragi did as he was told. He stripped himself off the armour and the bra and girl underwear and everything else, leaving his whole body bare and exposed to the cold autumn wind. Suddenly, Sakuragi felt a slight heat radiating from inside his body. The heat soared from his fiery red head down to the tip of his toes. He could feel a great change happening to his body but he kept his eyes shut tight, afraid to see what was going on his body. This lasted for about a full 15 minutes or so.

            "OK, you can open your eyes now."

            Sakuragi opened them tentatively. He looked down and yelled in shock at what he was seeing. He covered his mouth when he realized that his voice was high-pitched instead of his usual masculine yell. With a piece of the armour, he covered himself and looked at his body again with a face as red as a tomato. He saw that his breasts have actually become full and were huge—the exact size of a D-cup women's breasts and that his Adam's apple was gone. His body was perfect in every way—his original broad shoulders have shrunk a little to the size of an average woman who had done quite a number of workouts through her life, his waistline has also shrunk to fit a waist of a model, his arms and feet were slender like a girl and if he were to enter a beauty pageant he would be a winner for sure; and his face looked feminine, although there were still a few itsy-bitsy traces of masculinity in it. And the most important and bizarre thing was that his penis was replaced with a woman's vagina. He blushed terribly at upon looking at it.

            "So, Master Hanamichi," Mido said as he produced a mirror out of nowhere, trying hard not to experience a serious nose bleed, "How do you like your new look?"

            "It's…It's horrible!!! Terrible!!! What have you turned me into??!!" Sakuragi was in a stage of ranting and raving and was about to grab Mido to give him a head-butt when he noticed the features of his face on the mirror. His copper-brown eyes have gone softer and larger, like a girl, and his lips were rosier and a little bit fuller. His nose was a little bit higher and more feminine-looking and his long shoulder-length red hair has increased in length until it reached his elbows. He pouted at the image shown on the mirror and at Mido's smug look before admitting, "I guess…I guess you've done a good job. But what's this for?!"

            "Well, if you want to be a girl, you better start by looking like one," Mido said as he climbed up to Sakuragi's shoulders and started combing his hair and tying it up into buns (like Chun-Li's hair in Street Fighters). "You may act and hit and punch anyone like a real girl, but if you set one foot out there in that camp with that original male look and you definitely won't last for 3 seconds before they start cutting your head off. I gave you the magical lick so that I can transform you into a real girl. 100% foolproof and you won't have to worry about getting caught. Stuffing cloths into that bra of yours is not going to make you look like a girl enough, you know."

            Sakuragi nodded as he picked up the armour and underwear he had thrown in a careless heap and started dressing up. He realized that the bra he took form his mother's dressing room wasn't big enough to fit his D-cup sized breasts. Mido poked his claw at it and it expanded to fit. After putting everything on, he scrutinized himself in front of the mirror again and this time, he didn't need to convince himself that he really looked like a real girl.

            "Yada~! Sugoi desu-ne! I really _am_ a girl right now! Kewl!" 

            "Arigatogozaimas, Master Hanamichi. It's one of my powers I've mastered throughout the years. But there is one condition if you want to keep this look just right after the war. You must shed no blood or you will lose everything feminine on you."

            "Everything?" Sakuragi asked, his face showing worry.

            "Everything," Mido nodded. "All the looks, your breasts, everything. You'll turn back into a complete man and all will be lost, if you know what I mean."

            Sakuragi gulped as he thought of his head being decapitated. He nodded and made a mental note that whatever he does, he will not let himself get hurt and bleed.

            "Are we ready?" Mido asked eagerly as he climbed onto the back of Oukutsu. "Then let's go! Ganbatte!"

            Before he knew it, Sakuragi was walking towards the battle training camp.

A/N: Ha ha ha ha ha~!!! Now what do you think about that, guys? Sakuragi as a girl!! Ha ha ha ha ha~!! Reviews plz! 


	4. Inside The Dreaded Camp

A/N: Now that ours truly Sakuragi has turned into a fully formed woman, let's see what havoc he can create!

Disclaimer: I don't own Slam Dunk and its characters, and neither do I own Mulan for that matter. :P

                                         CHAPTER 4 – INSIDE THE DREADED CAMP

            As Sakuragi entered the camp, he was glad that his girlish look has earned the ignorance of the other girls. He was surprised to see the amount of people actually chosen to enter the war. Girls were abundant everywhere doing their own things like powdering their faces, testing out their weapons, combing their hair, reading a magazine and all sorts of girl things. But the ignorance didn't stay for too long—his height that made him stand out among all the girls was beginning to draw attention.

            "Woah there, girl. What have you been taking all these years? Steroids?"

            Sakuragi turned around and saw that it was a threesome of girls with a Do-Re-Mi kind of hair, as in a short hair, a medium-length hair and a long hair. They were all looking at him with those bitchy eyes and seemed like they were ready to pick on him. He scowled.

            "My height is none of your concern. Get lost!"

            "Oh, tough girl, huh?" the medium-haired girl said with spunk. "Wanna pick a fight or something?"

            "Don't waste your breath, girlfriend," the short-haired snorted. "With her kind of figure, she would be better off hanging around with the boys."

            "Yeah! She's no fighting material!" the long-haired agreed. "Look at her. She may be tall but she doesn't even have the bones to fight! She even carries a cat from home to this place! That is so lame!"

            "Oh yeah?!" Sakuragi felt his blood boiling and his pride challenged. "You want a piece of me? Come and get it then!"

            "Stop it, you girls! That's no way to treat a new member in our group."

            Sakuragi spun round at the other voice which was behind him. It was also a threesome of girls with Do-Re-Mi hairstyles, but they look kinder and friendlier than the first threesome. The so-called leader, the one with long hair, came forward and stood between Sakuragi and the first threesome.

            "Haven't you have anything better to do than pick on the new members? You girls don't fight as well as anyone anyway. We're all new here and to train, not start fights."

            The threesome glared at the girl for a while before the short-haired huffed and said, "Come on, girlfriends. Let's get out of here. No point wasting our time and energy over these puny characters!"

            Soon they left, chattering among themselves which one of the girls in the camp was the weakest and the strongest. The long-haired girl who stood up for Sakuragi turned around and smiled, "Don't let them get into you. They're just a bunch of sore, uneducated bitches who nothing of the true meaning of war. I like your cat though."

            "A…Arigatogozaimas…" Sakuragi thanked the girl. "I'm new here and, uh, I…"

            "Aren't we all?" the long-haired girl smiled sweetly and held out her hand. "My name is Akagi Haroko, sister of the matchmaker Akagi Tawanori. You must have heard of him."

            "Nani?! The Gori?! You're the Gori's sister?!" Sakuragi was shocked at first, but realizing that acting like that would blow his cover, he shrank sheepishly, "Err…I mean…Sunimase, I was just overwhelmed that you're the sister of the famous matchmaker…he he he~"

            "Funny," Haroko giggled. "There was someone I've heard about who would dare to call him the Gori. What was his name…Sakuragi Hanamichi…? Yeah, I think it's him."

            Sakuragi was half-embarrassed-half-proud. Embarrassed because of the incident that made him fail the Gori's test and proud because he has become the famous 'tensai' he claimed to be. He got back to his senses when he heard Haroko introducing her other friends to him.

            "This is Fujii," she said as she pointed to her short-haired friend, "and this is Yuki," as she pointed to her other friend who tied her hair in to pony tails (I dunno her name in the manga, so I just made it up). Sakuragi shook hands with each of them. Haroko then turned to Sakuragi and asked, "What's your name, friend?"

            Before he could answer, he suddenly felt his hands which held Mido empty. He looked around frantically for him and saw that he was chasing a mouse. Mido may be a higher level kind of cat but he still has his animal instincts. Sakuragi gave chase, not bothering who he had bumped into just to get the bronze-eyed cat. It was like the out-of-the-coop chicken all over again. When he finally caught Mido and clutched him in his arms, he realized that he had just knocked down a line of people who were getting ready for their lunch, including the cook who was providing them with oatmeal.

            Sakuragi and his newly found friends realized that he was in total deep shit.

            Meanwhile, inside the captain's tent, the general was discussing the strategies of war with a man with ebony-black hair and a pair of striking blue eyes. Beside the general was Hikoichi the Queen's counselor. As the general continued to discuss the strategy, the man stared at the map she was pointing at in full concentration. His blue eyes looked serious and full of interest. Finally the general finished her discussion by handing a sword to the man.

            "I hope that you will be able to train the girls and make them into lean, mean fighting machines by them time we send for backup, Captain Rukawa."

            The man who was called Rukawa looked at the sword with a mild surprise in his eyes. He took the sword tentatively and looked at it with admiration. Hikoichi, on the other hand, was in a state of disapproval.

            "What's this? We can't have a man for a captain! Surely there must be someone else of greater experience to take this job! And a woman is needed, not a male!"

            "He is suitable. I trust him," the general replied. "Besides he had scored everything in the books and had mastered everything there is to know about the war. He was a special case in the team and was first in class and basic training. I can't let him have desk jobs all his life if he's meant to fight the war. Furthermore, he is of my ranking, not a commoner."

            Hikoichi nodded grudgingly as he recalled the rule. It is true that only women are allowed to go into war and men, even if they want to be part of the military team, are only allowed to be doing desk jobs and touch no weapons of the military. And it is also true that only the women in their families that have been promoted to higher rankings of the military such as generals, lieutenants and other high military ranks are allowed to have their sons to be part of the war as soldiers or other positions than doing desk jobs, which benefited Rukawa. Rukawa tied the sword onto his belt and stood up.

            "I will not fail you, General."

            "Very good," the general stood up too and left the camp. Hikoichi and Rukawa followed suite. They were quite shocked to see that the general's assumption of future 'lean, mean fighting machines' were all on each other punching and kicking and fighting in a huge bundle, with a very tall redhead yelling and thrashing everyone who attempted to hit the lights out of her and a threesome of girls trying to coax her to stop. The general took it humorously and turned to Rukawa, "Well, you better get started if you want to whip them into shape. I expect a full report in 3 days' time, Hikoichi."

            "Yes, ma'am," Hikoichi said, then turned disapprovingly at Rukawa and stressed, "and I won't leave out a single word."

            "Alright. I'll see you then, Kaede. Sayonara!" the general said as she mounted her stallion and rode off, her troops following suite.

            "Sayonara, Mom," Rukawa Kaede whispered before turning to the fighting bundle of girls. Hikoichi gave him a smug look and raised his writing board. Rukawa got the cue and let out a shout, "Soldiers!!"

            Everyone stopped and dispersed from the fight, pointing directly at Sakuragi and yelling, "She started it!!" Rukawa walked over towards Sakuragi who was still head-butting a woman, glaring at him coldly with his sky-blue eyes. Sakuragi realized the tense atmosphere around him and turned to look at those glaring blue eyes and ebony-black hair that shone under the sun. He let go of the woman and stood up straight. Everyone gasped to see that Sakuragi was actually a wee bit taller than their captain. Sakuragi glared back at Rukawa; he didn't like the way he look at him and he definitely didn't like that foxy look on his face.

            "Who are you?" Sakuragi asked, to his new friends' horror. "Don't you know that a man is not supposed to be at war? You kitsune!"

            "Mind your tongue, young lady!" Hikoichi said. "He is the general's son and your captain and you…"

            Needless to say, it resulted to a head-butt from the redhead.

            "A captain, eh? Well, you look more like a kitsune than a captain to me!" Sakuragi said, folding his arms across his full breasts. Obviously, the breasts were new to him and it hurt a little to the touch. Mido hid behind Sakuragi's armour.

            "What's your name, lady?" Rukawa asked coldly, his blue eyes piercing through, as if he could see the male look underneath the spell Sakuragi was cast. 

            Sakuragi wanted to answer but he couldn't tell him his real name. That Hikoichi guy might have a record of his mother and her family members and he didn't want to reveal himself and get decapitated for that. As if reading his master's mind, Mido immediately whispered a name, "Haroko!"

            "Her name is Haroko!" Sakuragi hissed, jerking his head at Haroko standing a few feet behind him.

            "I asked for your name, not her name," Rukawa said, his tone as cold as ever and his blue eyes even more piercing.

           "Err…Oh, what the heck!" Mido was running out of ideas. "Just say that your name is…err…Minako! Yes, that's it, Minako!"  

            "Minako! Yes, my name is Minako. Sakuragi Minako, daughter of Sakuragi Midori," Sakuragi replied as he handed the report scroll to Rukawa. Rukawa took it and scanned it through. Hikoichi, who got back to his senses, looked into the scroll as well.

            "No one said anything about Private Sakuragi Midori having a daughter in the family!" Hikoichi said in a suspicious tone, looking at Sakuragi Hanamichi—now Sakuragi Minako—from head to toe.

           "Well, no one talks about me much, 'coz I'm too precious to her and wasn't allowed to go to war," Sakuragi replied, getting into this lying business. "But then I told her that I'm a grown woman and I make my own decisions. And of course, I am tensai and I will prevail! Nya ha ha ha ha ha~!!"

            Everyone stared at him like he was an alien or something (come to think of it, he does act like one). Hikoichi whispered to Rukawa, "I can see why they don't talk about her much. She's selling herself like a complete idiot!"

            "Well, thanks to our Minako here, you're all going to pick up every single crumb that is on the floor right now," Rukawa said as he rolled up Sakuragi's report scroll. "And I expect you all to be here early in the morning at dawn for your first training. You're dismissed!"

            All the girls glared and cracked their knuckles at Sakuragi with a vengeance, but shrank back when the 'tensai' glared back at them dangerously with his copper-brown eyes, his steel forehead glowed threateningly at them. Sakuragi turned back to the leaving Rukawa as he scooped up the spilt oatmeal and picked up the scattered bread, glaring at him grudgingly. His eyes were like on fire when he growled through clenched teeth, "Grrr~!!! Baka kitsune~!!"

            "Please, Minako, don't start another fight again," Haroko came to Sakuragi and begged. "You'll get us all expelled from camp. You can't afford to go home now, can you? I know I can't."

            The cleaning up ordeal lasted till late in the evening and needless to say, their dinner didn't seem encouraging at all, what with the wasted food and all. Sakuragi's hunger wasn't satisfied with just two bowls of congee but he had to do with it. He could feel all the accusing eyes, except Haroko, Fujii and Yuki, on him like a spear through his back.

            "Gee, Master Hanamichi," Mido said as he followed Sakuragi into his tent which was isolated 3 feet away from the rest of the tents. "You seriously need to work on those social skills of yours."

            "Whatever," Sakuragi groaned.

            He predicted a hard day ahead of him.

A/N: Gee, not too well on the first day of camp, does it? But at least he got to meet with his future love Rukawa Kaede! ^_^ Reviews plz! 


	5. A Long & Dreadful Place From Home

A/N: You think getting to know your new pals is hard, wait till you see the training!

Disclaimer: I don't own Slam Dunk and its characters, and neither do I own Mulan for that matter. :P

                                         CHAPTER 5 – A LONG & DREADFUL PLACE FROM HOME

            "Ohayo, Master Hanamichi!! Wake up now! Rise and shine!!" 

            Sakuragi groaned as he pulled his blanket over his head. He didn't sleep too well what with his hungry stomach and all and it took him till 1 in the morning to be able to fall asleep. Mido came over and pulled the blanket off his master and shook him awake.

            "Come on, Master Hanamichi! You're in the war zone now. There's no time for beauty sleep! Come on, I've got you some breakfast!"

            "Breakfast?!" Sakuragi was immediately awake. Mido showed him proudly a nicely done of a breakfast set fit for Sakuragi's appetite: peanut butter toast, eggs and bacon, noodles, fried rice and orange juice and they all came in second helpings. His mouth watered at everything before him and while he gobbled up the food, he asked, "Where did you get all these?"

            "Oh, I had a little help," Mido replied as he undid the clasp of his collar. The collar soon materialized itself into a very fat and round palm-sized cat that has eyes that narrowed into slits. It mewed at Sakuragi and licked some of the crumbs on Sakuragi's lap as the redhead bit onto the toast. Mido gestured at the cat smaller than he was and said, "Meet Takamiya, my little helper. He has always been the food provider for me and your ancestors. We can't exactly eat food of the living, so his job was to materialize the food offerings you gave us so that we can eat them properly. Of course, he can also provide food for the living too. Every candle holder has them."

            "Cool!" Sakuragi replied as he finished his food within minutes. As he drained his orange juice, Oukutsu kept on whinnying frantically. Mido turned around to find out what's the problem.

            "Uh, Master Hanamichi. I seriously think you should hurry up. The troop has already gathered up front."

            Sakuragi was shocked. With lightning speed, he dressed up in his woman training garments and rushed towards the troops who were already standing in line. The evil threesome looked at him and gave him a Look-who-just-slept-in kind of look. Haroko gestured him to stand beside her.

            "You're in luck. Captain Rukawa hasn't arrived yet."

            "Unfortunately he has," Rukawa's voice suddenly came from behind, taking Sakuragi and Haroko by surprise. He ignored the growl of Sakuragi calling him 'Kitsune' and moved towards the front of the troop. He gave a small speech on being lucky to be chosen ones to fight the war and all that nonsense. His voice sounded cold and unconcerned and his blue eyes were truly piercing, like one glance and he'll render you shitless. Sakuragi glared at him with a grudge and a vengeance. He seriously thought that this kitsune is nothing but words and crap. He would sure like to see him do some action and show him a thing or two. He also couldn't help thinking that this kitsune captain would be better off sleeping at home than being in the battle field.

            "Right, now we'll start off with our first training," Rukawa said as he took a bow and arrow. He raised it high, pulled the string and shot the arrow—almost as quick as Legolas in LOTR—sending it right to a very tall pole, maybe about 5 or 6 stories high. He turned around to face the women before him and with his piercing eyes, chose Sakuragi to go and retrieve the arrow, saying, "Since you're late, you might as well make up for it. You know what to do."

            Sakuragi scowled at Rukawa and glared at the evil threesome who was sniggering. He spit on his palms and started to climb onto the pole. Before he had his hands on the pole, he felt his back being poked. He turned around and saw that Rukawa was holding two iron weights, one in each hand, and tied them on Sakuragi's wrists without a word. He then held each of Sakuragi's hand and said, "This means strength and this means discipline. You need both to get up there and get the arrow."

            "That's _way_ too easy," Sakuragi snorted. His strength and stamina are unlimited; how hard can this be? He started climbing and was in the middle of the pole when he was splashed by something oily and smelly. Immediately, he felt himself slipping down the pole. No matter how hard he tried to hold on, he kept finding himself slipping lower and lower towards the ground. As he fell onto the grass with a hard thud, he realized that his whole body smelt of oil. Cooking oil as a matter of fact. He shifted his angry copper-brown eyes at Rukawa who looked back at him with his cold, unconcerned blue eyes. He took off the weights from Sakuragi's wrists and turned to the girls.

            "Anyone else want to try this 'way too easy' piece of training?"

           As predicted, no one was able to make it. All of them fell either due to the slippery pole or the heavy weights or both. The same goes with all the other training Sakuragi had to go through. First, one of the evil threesome slipped a cockroach into Sakuragi's shirt and made him squirm everywhere, hitting everyone in line in the process, including Rukawa (luckily he didn't aim for Rukawa's 'down there'). Then he was caught cheating when they were supposed to shoot tomatoes in the air (well, Mido was the one who stuck the tomato in the first place—blame him!). Later in bare hand fish-catching, he caught Yuki's leg instead of a fish and he wasn't able to hit incoming stones thrown at him while balancing the bucket of water at the same time. The only thing he was good at was the weight-carrying while jogging up hills. Although his stamina and strength outmatched every girl present in this camp and could do everything that was bombarded at him if only given more time, our dear Captain Rukawa didn't seem to be impressed or encouraging at all, which made Sakuragi hate him even more. Sometimes, when things get pretty rough, you can see Sakuragi lashing his tongue at the cold, unconcerned face of Rukawa. 

            To top it up, every time Sakuragi failed in one part of the training, he was given hard chores to do, like cleaning the pots and pans after meals, washing clothes (to the evil threesome's delight), shining the weapons and stuff. And the most irritating part was that every time the chore was given to him, Rukawa would say, "You got the extra energy. You can do it better than those lousy performances of yours in training." Sakuragi practically could memorize and predict when he was going to say that. He felt so mistreated; the other girls didn't do as well but he was the only one doing all the chores. Haroko, Fujii and Yuki did help him out a little but that wasn't enough and it's not everyday they were allowed to help him. Even a little secret help from Mido and Noma still wasn't enough.

            Finally, after another long day's training and chores, Sakuragi was about to head off to his tent when he was called by the ever familiar cold voice of Rukawa.

            "Sakuragi Minako."

            "Yes, _captain_," Sakuragi replied in clenched teeth. "What do you want?"

            "Pack up," Rukawa said briefly, folding his arms across his chest.

            "Pack up? What do you mean 'pack up'?" Sakuragi looked at him suspiciously.

            "I meant what I said. Pack up, you're through. You're not needed here anymore."

            "Wha…What?! Doushite?! Doushite nayo?? I was so close! So close to mastering everything that you throw on me! Why are you kicking me out now?!" Sakuragi shouted, his face going red.

            "You may be strong and stand out just like the rest of the team but you are no fighting material. You have never mastered anything here except carrying weights while jogging up hills. You don't do your archery right, you can't keep a bucket of water in balance and you darn right can't even catch a fish. You don't belong in the army. You should be in town hanging out with the boys, do'aho."

            "Do…Do'aho?!" Now Sakuragi was really mad. He clenched his fists and aimed it real hard at Rukawa's face, shouting, "You kitsune! YOU DAMN FUCKING KITSUNE!!! How dare you do this to me?! I was so close!! You never gave me a chance to prove myself! You never even tried!!! I could've done better than the rest of the girls put together! How dare you?! HOW DARE YOU??!!"

            His outburst has caused a commotion throughout the camp. All the girls who were doing their things came out of their tents and were horrified at Sakuragi who was sending his fists over and over again onto the captain. Surprisingly, Rukawa didn't attempt to fight back. He just let the feisty redhead give him blow after blow of non-stop pain. He was even able to endure Sakuragi's famous head-butt (Ouch!) and still remain standing, although his forehead bled a little. All the other girls tried to go forward and pull him away from Rukawa, but they, too, earned a serious head-butt or a kick or a punch. Even Haroko, Fujii and Yuki were powerless over him.

            Finally, when Sakuragi stopped to take a breath, Rukawa coolly wiped off the blood from his forehead and walked over to the panting redhead. Without a word, he aimed a hard slap onto his cheek and glared at him with his icy cold blue eyes. Sakuragi stared back at him, his face full of surprise and shock and his hand on the slapped cheek. He was so taken aback that he didn't know what to do at first. Haroko walked over to him and tried to pick him up.

            "You have no self-control, and you have no discipline. You still can't even climb up that oil-covered pole and get that arrow. So get out of here, you do'aho. You don't belong here," Rukawa said coldly, then turned to the girls after looking up when he heard the thunder rolled and said, "Get inside, people. It's raining. There's nothing to see."

            Everyone went back into their tents. Haroko wanted to lead Sakuragi back to his tent but he refused to budge. She had no choice but to go back to her own tent. Sakuragi sat there on the grass letting the rain pour on him. He was drenched from head to toe but he still remained sitting there without a word. His mind was blank through and through and he couldn't think over anything else. The only thing in his mind was that why he just couldn't get through Captain Rukawa and make him see that he was better than all the other girls in this camp. Why? Why can't Rukawa see that he could do this? Why, why, why?

            He shifted his gaze towards the arrow still perched up on the pole. He then looked at his hands and the way it was all wet and drenched. Suddenly, something came through his mind. He looked around and saw that everywhere was practically wet. He stared at the two weights that were placed beside the oily pole. Mido, regardless of the rain, went over to Sakuragi and was about to lead him back to his tent but he found him tying the weights on his wrists and was attempting to climb the pole. At first, Mido was surprised that he even do such a thing but when he looked at all the wetness and stared at the oily pole, he understood that his Master Hanamichi has found a way to get up the pole.

            Soon, as the rain stopped and the dawn approached and as the girls woke up from their beauty sleep and stepped out of their tents for their breakfast of the day, they found Sakuragi, drenched as he was, climbing slowly and was actually making his way up the pole and closer towards the arrow. It turned out that Sakuragi had figured out that water was the solution to keep him from slipping off the oily pole and that he has used the strings hanging from the weights to pull him up the pole. Finally when Rukawa has awakened and came out of his tent, he found the arrow at his feet and Sakuragi sitting comfortably and smugly on the pole. Rukawa stared at him for a moment or two before looking away and walking towards the food court.

            "Alright, Sakuragi Minako, you made your point. Come down from there and have your breakfast."

            Sakuragi jumped down from the pole niftily and was applauded and cheered by the other girls, especially the impressed Haroko, Fujii and Yuki. The evil threesome glared at him grudgingly. Everyone clapped his back and gave him a praise or two and he was the hero for the day.

            Things are going to be fairer from now on.

A/N: OK, Sakuragi has finally made it through to Rukawa and made it clear that he was war material. How's it gonna be later in the days to come? You figure that out while I move on with the next chappie! Reviews plz! 


	6. Funny Times, Crucial Times

A/N: Humour on the house! Who wants 'em? Come and get it!! A little bit PG-13 on this one, or maybe R, just a wee bit.

Disclaimer: I don't own Slam Dunk and its characters, and neither do I own Mulan for that matter. :P

                                                  CHAPTER 6 – FUNNY TIMES, CRUCIAL TIMES

            Things did become much better later as the days came.

            Sakuragi has finally got the hang of everything that was bombarded at him. After the first successful training on the arrow thingy, everything seemed pretty easy for the redhead now. He was able to hit incoming stones and not let a drop of water fall out of the bucket he was balancing on his head, able to run _way_ ahead of everyone with twice as much weight carried on his shoulders, shoot 10 tomatoes in the air at one go, catch a whole hoard of fish with both hands, run across flying fiery arrows and shooting cannons without a scratch on his body and hit out with his rod accurately. He had almost mastered everything and learnt everything there is to know about the warring issues, though Captain Rukawa didn't show much encouragement or any reaction to his improvements.

            Sakuragi had finally gotten used to Rukawa's cold remarks and all, but he still couldn't help lashing his tongue at him just because he didn't like his foxy-looking face. He didn't really get the hang of liking those cold, piercing blue eyes that can see through his armour and through his spell-cast body. Occasionally you would see the redhead and the captain shooting names at each other, namely the famous 'Baka kitsune' and 'Do'aho' quotes. The good threesome as in Haroko, Fujii and Yuki couldn't help thinking that they looked like couples bickering at each other. The other girls began to think the same thing too as Sakuragi and Rukawa's arguments got more and more frequent.

            Later one evening, after a long day's training minus the chores, Mido stared at his master with a very solemn look on his face and said, "It's about time you take a bath, shouldn't you?"

            "Huh?" Sakuragi looked at his neko companion in surprise.

            "Don't you 'huh' me!" Mido said as he threw the towel at his master. "You may like being all sweaty and smelly like the girls, but you are still the _son_ of Sakuragi Midori, and you darn well better smell like a boy instead of a girl! Now off you go to bath, Master Hanamichi!"

            "Bath?! You're asking me to…to bath?! But-But-But…ma-matte, matte!! I can't go bathing like this!!" Sakuragi protested and struggled as even Noma the mynah and Oukutsu the stallion dragged him to the nearby lake. "Matte!! Chotto matte nayo~!!"

            "And why shouldn't you take a bath, may I ask, Master Hanamichi?" Mido asked, raising an eyebrow.

            "Because…because…annou…" Sakuragi blushed as red as his hair as he hugged his body. He wasn't used to looking at himself naked, especially when his body is a body of a girl. Mido noticed and shook it away.

            "Oh, pish-posh, Master Hanamichi. There's nothing to worry about. It's still your body after all. There nothing to be ashamed about. Go on. Off with the clothes and into the lake."

            With that, Mido poked his claw onto Sakuragi's clothes and immediately they fell off his body like it was too big for him. Sakuragi yelled as he practically felt himself being violated like that. Before he could yell at the cat and say "Hentai!!!" Oukutsu has butted his head onto Sakuragi's bare back and sent him falling into the cold water of the lake, sending Sakuragi into a fit of loud yelling and protests. Thankfully, the coldness of the water has calmed down his heated temper.

            Sakuragi blushed at the sight of his own breasts and the look of his vagina instead of his usual penis. His hands found themselves on his waist and he found it hard to believe that he had turned from a feisty, strong and high-stamina guy into a slender, model-figured woman, and with huge boobs at that. He looked at his legs which were submerged in the lake and found it even harder to believe that these legs used to be his male legs. He blushed even worse and was in the verge of experiencing a nose bleed just by looking at his own naked body.

            While he was contemplating about his body, he suddenly heard incoming footsteps accompanied by a series of chattering and giggling. He turned to see and was shocked that it was his female gundam Haroko, Fujii and Yuki heading towards the lake too. He lowered himself deeper into the lake until only his head showed. He was so embarrassed to be seen here. Why didn't Mido warn him? He seriously considered giving him a head-butt after this.  

            "Oh, Minako! You're an early bird! Mind if we join you?" Haroko asked as she removed her training garments, stripping herself naked. Her other friends did the same, which made Sakuragi blush even more.

            "Err…Annou…Are you sure we're supposed to do that…?" Sakuragi asked, lowering himself even more as he felt a serious nose bleed coming in.

            "What are you so ashamed about?" Yuki asked as she stepped into the lake. "We're women, aren't we? What's so embarrassing about that?"

            "Don't tell me your mother treasure you so much that she doesn't even allow you to even bath with other girls now, does she?" Haroko asked.

            "Err…Ie! Of course not…It's just that—Yada~!!" Sakuragi's words were cut short by a sudden squeeze by someone on his D-cup sized breasts. He looked up and saw that it was Yuki having her hands on them.

            "Would you look at that, girls?! Her breasts are just humongous! Fabulous, Minako! Any girl would kill to have such big hunk of 'mountains'! You are so going to render males breathless with these babies on you!"

            "Hentai!! Hands off merchandise, will ya?!" Sakuragi growled as he stood up abruptly, covering his breasts with his hands. When he stood up, the girls stared at him even more with their eyes wider than usual.

            "Check out that waistline!" Yuki muttered.

            "Look at those arms and legs!" Fujii practically breathed the words out as she was just way too stunned to say anything.

            "She really _is_ a figure of perfection! Not only is she great in strength and stamina, she is great in figure as well!" Haroko said as her eyes trailed Sakuragi's naked body from head to toe. "Any man would die to marry a girl like you! You gotta tell us your secret! How did you get such a perfect figure and still maintain an all-rounder?"

            Sakuragi was at lost of words. He didn't know what to say. Sure, he can say that he had inherited the strength and stuff from his mother and all, but he couldn't just tell them that his perfectly shaped body was a gift from a magical bronze cat who so happens to hold candles for his ancestral pagoda. He didn't know what to do or what to say. Finally, as a last resort, he pointed, "It's easy! 'Coz…'Coz I'm a tensai, that's why!! Nya ha ha ha ha~!! Only a tensai can have such a great figure as I do! Nya ha ha ha ha ha~!!!"

            The girls giggled and protested playfully at Sakuragi who was able to worm his way out of this awkward situation. As the ever gullible guy he was, Sakuragi soon forgot about how awkward it was to be around naked girls and was soon splashing water at each other. When they got tired of fooling around, Haroko suddenly gave Sakuragi a sly look and said, "Minako, admit it. You came to this training camp for a reason, didn't you?"

            "A-re…? What…do you mean?" Sakuragi let out a sweat drop. Oh no, has he been found out?

            "Yeah, I can see that your intention is not to fight for the war," Fujii agreed, pointing naughtily at him.

            "I bet you're here because you want to be with that Captain Rukawa Kaede!" Yuki chided.

            "Na…Nani?! That kitsune?!" Sakuragi was shocked. "What does that have to do with that baka kitsune?!"

            "Don't try to worm your way out of this one, Minako!" Haroko said, grinning. "I can see the way you two bicker at each other so much like school children. You like Captain Rukawa, don't you? Admit it!"

            "Me?! No way! Not in a million years would I associate myself with that baka kitsune!! What makes you think I like him?! He's obnoxious and vile and conceited and cold and unconcerned and unfair and…"

            "And nice and sweet because he pays more attention to you than to us," Fujii said. "Haven't you realized that he treats you more harshly than the other girls in camp? This goes to show that he cares more for you."

            Sakuragi was speechless for a moment there. Could it be? The baka kitsune did favour to fight with him more than he wishes to fight the others, and he was given more work than the other girls put together, but that couldn't mean…could it? Sakuragi looked away and muttered, "Ba…Baka! I would never like that baka kitsune even if my life depended on it! I'm done now. Sayonara!"

            He could hear his female gundam giggling naughtily behind him as he slowly left the lake, draping the towel over his naked, wet body. Obviously, they didn't seem to buy his excuse.

                                                                                                *

            "You gotta be kidding me, Hikoichi."

            "No, I am not. Your women are not fit to go out for war."

            Sakuragi has just finished dressing up after the bath into his nightgown Mido has got for him using magic and was passing by Hikoichi's tent when he heard Rukawa and the Queen's counselor arguing with each other.

            "I tell you, my soldiers have worked hard and trained hard for this war. You've seen their progress and all. I strongly believe that they are ready," Rukawa was making his point with his usual cold voice but Sakuragi could hear the slight anger in his tone.

            "Your women are not as prepared as the women who had trained years and years throughout their whole lives for battle," Hikoichi argued. "Especially that redhead! She is no fighting material! If I were her mother, I would be embarrassed by such ill and weak performance she's putting up!"

            "Don't you dare say anything rash about her," Rukawa's voice seemed to tense a little. "She is doing far better than the rest of the girls put together and she is of the right strength and built. Besides, I am the captain around here and I have the authority to say who's good and who's not."

            "Hait, you may be the captain but _I _am the Queen's counselor," Hikoichi stressed his status haughtily. "I've seen better people train their troops and turn out so much better than your juvenile delinquents, and they are women, not men. Besides, I got the job on my own and not by some help from their general okasan. When she looks at my report, I'll be seeing you all off and back to your hometown within seconds. Konbanwa."

            By Hikoichi's gesture out of the tent door, Rukawa could see that this haughty Queen's counselor has made up his mind. He let out a sigh and walked out of the tent. His blue eyes met Sakuragi's copper-brown eyes for a second there, but he was not in a mood for arguments right now. He just walked past the redhead without a word.

            "You know, I can give him a head-butt if you want," Sakuragi suddenly found himself saying to the kitsune captain. Rukawa stopped in his tracks, standing with his back facing him without a word. As our redhead stared at Rukawa, he somehow felt a little sorry for him, especially when he did give him a good word or two to Hikoichi even though he had been lashing his tongue at him since the day he came to camp. He didn't know why but he couldn't help feeling that Rukawa had suffered much more than he and the girls had.

            "I…uh…well, for what it's worth, kitsune…" Sakuragi hesitated before blurting out, "I…uh…I think you're a good captain. Yeah, you are a good captain, although you're still no match for a tensai like me but…you're good." 

            After quite a long silence, Rukawa turned around to face Sakuragi. He expected the captain to glare at him with his cold blue eyes giving him that Who-are-you-kidding look, but instead, the captain looked at him with a pair of blue eyes a trace of…gratitude?

            "Arigatogozaimas, Minako," Rukawa said briefly before moving away towards his tent. The redhead Sakuragi stared after him until he has entirely entered the tent. He had never seen this side of Rukawa before. It wasn't the usual cold eyes he came to know. It was a pair of genuine thankful eyes, as if he was truly grateful for Sakuragi to say a good word about him. He even called him 'Minako' instead of his full (but fake) name 'Sakuragi Minako'. Sakuragi has unexpectedly become mesmerized by those eyes. He didn't know why. If Mido had held a mirror in front of him, he would have noticed that his copper-brown eyes were in a dreamy state.

            "I see where you're going here, Master Hanamichi," Mido's voice suddenly came out of nowhere, bringing Sakuragi back to his senses.

            "Huh? Nani?" Sakuragi asked, his eyes switched from the dreamy state to his innocent state.

            "Don't you play dumb with me, Master Hanamichi! I can see what's going on here! You like him, don't you? Admit it!" Mido said with a mischievous grin on his face the exact way Haroko did when she teased Sakuragi.

            "Nani?! Me?! You're crazy! I wouldn't like that baka kitsune in a million years!! No way!!!" Sakuragi blushed again as red as his own hair, his heart suddenly beating about 5 times its rate—more than when he did his trainings.

            "Uh-huh. Yeah, right. Your Mom was right when she did her daily prayers; you _are_ a gay! No wonder you're still single. Now go to your tent, young man!"

            Sakuragi unexpectedly did as he was told without further arguments. Were his girlfriends right? Was Mido right? Was he really starting to actually _like _the cold kitsune captain? Was he actually enjoying his squabbles and quarrels with that kitsune and doing it just because he wanted to get his attention and to stare into that icy cold blue eyes he hated yet loved so much? Have Sakuragi's feelings for Rukawa actually changed after hearing his argument with Hikoichi and the way he looked at him when Sakuragi complemented him? Is this really how…love feels like? 

            Before he went away to his tent, he took one last look at Rukawa's tent and smiled.

                                                                                                *

            The night in the forests of Gaia was quite silent as the women in the camp dropped off to sleep one by one. Hikoichi had waited until the women have gone off to bed before rushing over to the lake to take his bath. And while he's away from his tent, ours truly Mido the cat and Noma the mynah were getting busy.

            "I've worked so hard to put Master Hanamichi to this war and I'm not going to let some posh Queen's counselor ruin it for his own benefits!"

A/N: OK, now it's getting a little intimate. What's gonna happen next? Not telling! Reviews plz! 


	7. Going Out To War

A/N: The girls are going out on a war, and that includes our bishounen Sakuragi! Let's go and join the action!

Disclaimer: I don't own Slam Dunk and its characters, and neither do I own Mulan for that matter. :P

                                                           CHAPTER 7 – GOING OUT ON WAR

            "Hait!!! Let's go, girls!!!"

            The silence of dawn was broken with Sakuragi's enthusiastic cheer. Everyone was up and about and was moving towards south, where General Rukawa, Rukawa Kaede's mother, and her troops were to protect the villagers from the incoming attacks. And it's all thanks to Mido and Noma.

            Well, you see, as Hikoichi went for his midnight shower, Mido and Noma did a little manipulating of their own. With Noma's feet dipped into the black ink and Mido's intellectual mind, they came up with an urgent letter from 'General Rukawa Misae' to send the troops as backup out to south to a village called Dyna where she and her own troops were defending. Hikoichi was, as expected, shocked to see this urgent letter on his table after he got back from the showers and informed Rukawa Kaede immediately about it. At the break of dawn, everyone was awakened from their beauty sleep and was ordered to pack and go. Haroko and her other friends couldn't wake Sakuragi but one harsh tug at his ankle by Rukawa immediately awaken him from his slumber. The other girls giggled at that sight; their suspicion went answered after all.

            So now here they were, walking up and down hills and through fields and up the hills again. They passed by a cornfield where the men were out there planting the corn. With their straw hats and rolled-up shirts and pants, they look pretty handsome in them. Some of the girls whistled at them and the men chuckled sheepishly. Sakuragi would not do a single thing like they did, which confirmed even more to Haroko and her girlfriends that he had his heart on their Captain Rukawa. 

            "Hey, Minako," Haroko moved closer to the ever tall Sakuragi. "Have you done anything yet?"

            "Done what?" Sakuragi asked innocently.

            "Are you that slow?" Yuki asked. "Don't tell me you haven't done anything to let Captain Rukawa know that you like him! Seriously, you gotta make a move before someone else does!"

            "Yada~! I told you, I don't like that baka kitsune, not even if you pay me a hundred thousand bucks!" Sakuragi went into a state of denial, trying to keep his face going from pink to bright red. "He's not…He's not my type, OK?"

            "Well, whatever you say, Minako," Fujii shrugged tiredly at Sakuragi's relentless efforts to deny his true feelings for Rukawa. "But I gotta tell you, this secret won't last forever. Soon everyone will know that you got the hicks for him."

            "Baka kitsune!" Sakuragi muttered. "Why would I like him anyway? He's nothing but a self-centered fool who doesn't care about anything but himself. He doesn't even tell us who the enemy we're going to fight is! Who are our opponents exactly anyway?"

           "You seriously _are_ here just to be with Captain Rukawa!" Yuki laughed as she clapped Sakuragi's shoulder playfully. "Have you no idea who we're up against? It's the Shirogane Clan who came from another part of a country. The leader of the clan is a 2-meter tall giant whose name is Uozumi, and he could be even taller than Haroko's brother! And furthermore, he's a man! In fact, all his clan members are men! Can you imagine other countries having men as the bread-winner and having them entering the war? That is so degrading!"

            Sakuragi sweatdropped and remained silent—he was beginning to think that she scolding it directly at him.

            "Anyway, they wanted to take over this island and make it theirs because they heard about the abundance of us women here that they can manipulate and use. Well, they're not going to get us that easily! We'll fight them till the last of our breath!"

            "Do you know who else are in that Shirogane Clan?" Sakuragi asked curiously.

            "Well, there are a lot of Uozumi's men he had gathered from every continent in his country," Fujii said as she tapped her chin. "There's Sendoh, Koshino, Fukuda, Kyota, Maki…and maybe Fujima and Hanagata. That's all I remember. What I've heard, they're Uozumi's best mates and he trusts them with all his life."

            "They don't sound so tough at all," Sakuragi said bravely. He had never feared anything in his life and this Shirogane Clan sure didn't scare him one bit.

            "We'll see," Haroko said as she checked to see if her weapons were fit to be used and none of her things have been left behind. "Hey, have you girls ever wondered what it would be like to fight for a man?"

            "I sure can!" Yuki said enthusiastically. "I imagine myself often fighting for a man that would appreciate me not for my looks but for my strength and agility. And I want him to be nice and sweet and never underestimate my abilities. I get that all the time during high school."

            "I would want to fight for some man who is as pale as the moon and as handsome as our Captain Rukawa—no offence, Minako," Haroko said dreamily. "He has to be sweet too, but most importantly, he has to be diligent and willing to listen to my troubles and be there whenever I need him."

            "Your tastes are so lame!" Hikoichi suddenly butted in the conversation without warning. "Back in the castle, I got a woman that loves me unconditionally and listens to whatever _I _say. She's none like any other!"

            "Yeah, right," Sakuragi muttered under his breath. "The only girl that would love you is your mother!"

            That remark sent a scowl onto Hikoichi's face as he rode away with a huff ahead of the troops. The girls giggled behind his wake and Sakuragi pulled his tongue at him.

            "I don't really mind how my man looks like," Fujii said, licking her lips. "As long as he does his housework well and serves me good food. Sugoi-ne!"

            "You're always eating, Fujii!" Sakuragi laughed as he clapped Fujii's back, making her almost toppling forward. "And you still don't get fat! How do you do it?"

            "Well, it goes the same with you!" Fujii said as she coughed. "You eat practically three times as much as I do and…"

            Her words stopped short when she stared what was before her in shock and horror. Sakuragi and the rest of his girlfriends also looked up to see what she was staring at and gasped. They have finally arrived at the village of Dyna where General Rukawa was supposed to defend, but it was a far cry from a decent village. Everything was in ruins. The houses didn't seem like houses anymore, but a huge pile of rubble and dust. There was fire lit at some part of the houses and fields and there were bodies everywhere. Some were scorched, some were stabbed or hacked and some were terribly mutilated. There was blood everywhere, and the redness filled the corn field.         

             In the middle of all the blood and gore and rubble, Sakuragi came across a small little Pikachu doll which was smothered with burnt dust and streaks of blood. Sakuragi's heart ached at the sight of the doll. Whoever owned this doll must be long gone now, back to the earth where the gods have brought him/her out from. He picked it up and held it close to his chest while looking out the village for any survivors. The rest of the troop, including Haroko, Fujii, Yuki and the evil threesome also spread out and looked around for survivors. Unfortunately they found none.

           "That's strange…" Rukawa muttered to himself, his blue eyes searched the area. "My mother is supposed to be here. Why is it so deserted…?"

            "Sir," one of the girls called out as she was standing at a vast unploughed field at one end of the village. Rukawa rushed towards the place where the soldier was pointing and stopped in the midway. His eyes widened at the sight of all the dead bodies lying on the half-snowy field that hadn't had the chance to be ploughed but already covered with 'human fertilizer'. Even the horses lay motionless on the ground bleeding to their deaths and some badly mutilated or stuck with millions of arrows.

            In the middle of all the dead bodies, Rukawa saw his mother's sword and her pale hand clutching it tightly. He walked closer towards the sword and had half-expected to see General Rukawa Misae lying on a pool of her own blood with slash wounds everywhere. The slit on her throat was the fatal strike on her. He stood there watching for goodness knows how long before picking up his mother's sword with trembling hands. His knuckles gone white as he clutched the sword real tight, his whole body shaking slightly in fury. Sakuragi stood from afar and saw everything. He felt truly sorry for him, and this time he knew why; it could've been his own mother out there in the snow if it weren't for him to take her place in this battle.

            After looking high and low throughout the village, the troops reported back to Rukawa that they couldn't find any survivors. Everyone around here was dead. Every single one. And they all died in the hands of the cruel, heartless people of the Shirogane Clan. Sakuragi found it hard to believe that man outside of Amazon Island could be so much more brutal and savage than the rambunctious, high-spirited and tough women of this island. He secretly felt thankful that he wasn't born in such a world as that.

            It was time to move on and get to the next base camp where Rukawa's aunt, Rukawa Kaoru might be, which is just across the snowy mountains up north. Rukawa still stood among the dead soldiers of his late mother who had sadly but bravely departed. Hikoichi called for him and it took him about 5 hollers (Sakuragi head-butted him for bothering Rukawa in the midst of his mourning) to get the captain moving. He took off his mother's helmet, walked out of the blood-soaked corn field and up to a small mound of snow. He stuck the sword onto the mound of snow and hung the helmet onto the handle. He knelt down in front of the sword and clasped his hands together in prayer, hoping that the ancestors of the Rukawa family would protect and keep her soul in peace. Sakuragi walked up towards him.

            "I'm so sorry for you, kitsu…I mean, captain," Sakuragi said timidly for the first time at the blue-eyed captain. "Your mother must have been a great warrior and a great mother to you to deserve a son like you."

            "…She was…" Rukawa muttered under his breath before standing up and join the troops to moving up north. Sakuragi realized that he was still holding the Pikachu doll in his hand and walked over towards the sword. He lay the doll against the sword and prayed too, hoping that whoever owns this doll would be in the secure arms of General Rukawa Misae and be able to rest in peace. After hearing Haroko's call, he got up in a thrice and joined the move.

            The Pikachu doll stared its beady eyes at the disappearing troop, as if bidding them farewell and good luck.

A/N: Aww~! Again, Sakuragi has shown his soft side towards Rukawa~! *^_^* Reviews plz! 


	8. Encounter With The Enemies

A/N: I can't seem to get enough out of this fic! Nya ha ha ha ha~!!! Gee, I'm sounding like Sakuragi now! Alright, let's get on with the show then! And this time we have cameos from our very own people from Shoyo, Kainan and Ryonan!!! Just to name a few.

Disclaimer: I don't own Slam Dunk and its characters, and neither do I own Mulan for that matter. :P

                                                CHAPTER 8 – ENCOUNTER WITH THE ENEMIES

            Rukawa's troops were trudging down the snowy mountains and were moving slowly up north towards Rukawa's aunt base camp so that they can later be led into the Primal City where they'll report to the Queen Ayako and protect the city alongside with Rukawa's aunt. A huge cart draped with a cloth bearing the sign of the Amazon Island symbol was pulled by Oukutsu led by Sakuragi Minako—formerly known as Sakuragi Hanamichi—because his blonde mane stallion was the strongest and the largest of all. Besides, it has always been Sakuragi to manage the chores and the menial tasks and this was one of them. In the cart was filled with cannons and explosives that will be used during the war later if they were to fight.

            No one said a word throughout the journey. It wasn't only because they were still quite shaken up by the blood-filled village of Dyna, but also because they didn't want their presence to be known by the enemy. Rukawa had warned that since the enemy has passed by this village, there would be a likely chance for them to be hiding out in the snowy mountains, waiting to attack their next victims. They tried to keep their breathing level and low as they trudged on further and further towards the north. Mists came out of their mouths and their bodies began to shiver. Even the thick war armour they were wearing couldn't keep out the biting cold. Sakuragi also felt the chill and shivered. Back at home, winter was never as cold as this, and he always had fire nearby.

            Suddenly, one of the cannons in the cart flew out with a loud whiz and exploded in the midair. Everyone was shocked out of their wits—who wouldn't if the pressurizing silence was suddenly broken in the middle of nowhere? Sakuragi turned and glared annoyingly at Mido and Noma who were hiding out inside the cart. Their fingers immediately pointed at Takamiya the mini cat who was eating a piece of flambé. Obviously, our food jinn here has made flambé in the middle of the explosives and the fire triggered one of the cannons, sending it flying out into the horizon.

            "What was that about?" Rukawa's cold voice rang into Sakuragi's ear. Mido and Noma quickly went into hiding. "What just happened?"

            "I, uh, I dunno," Sakuragi tried to laugh the matter away. "It just flew off like that, he he he he~"

            "Did you know you just gave away our position?!" Rukawa bore his cold blue eyes deep into his copper-brown ones accusingly. "Are you trying to get us killed?"

            "Nande!" Sakuragi's hot temper got the better of him. "You are always thinking that I'm everything's fault! Why can't you just for once…"

            Their squabbles were cut short when an arrow was shot towards their direction. Rukawa had only barely been skinned by the sharp tip of the arrow. The next they knew was that they were being showered by hundreds and hundreds of shooting arrows, and this time they were burning hot with fire. Rukawa called everyone to scatter for lower grounds. One of the fiery arrows shot into the cart of explosives and immediately caught fire. Rukawa ordered for the explosives to be taken out of the crate as much as they can. The girls who have been running helter-skelter trying to scatter around doubled back and formed a human chain, taking out as much explosives and cannons as they can.

            Sakuragi, after seeing that enough saving explosives is enough, took out his sword and slashed the straps that held the cart to Oukutsu and rode off before the cart exploded. In the confusion, Sakuragi has forgotten about Mido and Noma who were still inside the cart. They were both shot out of the cart as it exploded and landed face first onto the snow. Mido looked up and glared at Sakuragi grudgingly with his bronze eyes.

            "Oh, right, sure! Save the horse but save not your guardian!"

            "Well, serves you right for not being able to control your own little helper Takamiya!" Sakuragi yelled before scooping up the cat and the bird and rode the stallion towards a safe spot with the rest of the troops.

            Showers of fiery arrows and shots of cannons go back and forth between the enemy and Rukawa's troop. When they thought that this back and forth attacks were not going to end, the enemy suddenly ceased fire. Rukawa stopped Haroko from firing the last cannon and waited for any reaction from the other party. Soon they heard a distant rumbling from the top of one of the mountains. They turned to that direction and saw that there was a whole army on horses staring down at them from above. It was the Shirogane Clan, no doubt. The leader of the team was a tall, big-sized guy with thick lips who looked almost like the Gori, only that he was much more savage and has brownish-red hair and lighter skin than the Gori. Behind him were a whole bunch of men wearing suits of armour and looked really tough indeed.

            "Oh, look, Uozumi," one of the soldiers with tall, standing hair said with flourish to the leader called Uozumi. "We have a redhead among the enemies. She is so cute! Can I keep her?"

            "Hah! We're here to keep all of those girls, Sendoh!" another man with wild-looking hair chided in naughtily. "But I'm definitely keeping the redhead."

            "Enough games, men! We're here on a war, not on a joyride!" Uozumi hollered. "CHARGE~!!!"

            Sure enough, the Shirogane Clan let out a long holler in unison before riding their horse closer and closer towards the lower ground and incoming towards Rukawa's troop. Rukawa called everyone to retreat and scatter again to even lower ground. Everyone did as they were told. Then Rukawa told Haroko who had the last cannon with her to aim at Uozumi before firing. Haroko did as she was told. As she waited for the leader of the Shirogane team to get closer enough, her hand was trembling as she brought the match close to the string. She was obviously nervous as she was actually going to attack the leader and not the men.

            Sakuragi looked around. He was sure that hitting the leader is not going to do them any good. That Uozumi character is way too tall and big to be harmed by a mere cannon. His copper-brown eyes searched the area to see if he could destroy all the enemies instead of just one. First he looked at the cannon, then the tallest mountain just right behind the Shirogane Clan. He smirked as an idea came to his head.

            With a swipe, Sakuragi grabbed the cannon and ran all the way towards the incoming Shirogane Clan, ignoring the frantic calls of his three girlfriends and his kitsune Rukawa. Mido leapt onto Sakuragi's back trying to stop him from doing anything stupid. He kept running and running until he was about 3 feet away from the enemy. He stuck the cannon into the snow and aimed it at the mountain behind the clan. Uozumi and his few trusted men stopped charging and slowed down but the other men continued to charge past their leader. Quickly, Sakuragi grabbed Mido's paw and touched the claw onto the string and lit the cannon. The guy whose name is Sendoh quickly swiped Sakuragi from the waist and threw him onto his stallion.

            "Hah! I beat you, Kyota! She's mine!" Sendoh said naughtily at the wild-haired man as he forced Sakuragi's hands to hug his waist with a smile on his face.

            "No way! I saw her first before you said anything about her!" Kyota growled as he tugged Sakuragi's armour and brought him onto his stallion. The rest of the men, namely Fujima, Maki, Koshino, Hanagata and some other lust-filled guys came over and fought for Sakuragi too, pulling him back and forth onto each of the stallions.

            "She's mine!"

            "No way! She's mine!"

            "No, mine!"

            "I saw her first!"

            "I dreamt about her last night! I get her first!"

            Uozumi sweatdropped as the men fought over Sakuragi like a pack of wolves fighting for a piece of meat. He barged through the fighting crowd and grabbed Sakuragi and placed onto his lap. All his trusted men stared and gaped in awe when Uozumi said authoritatively, "She's mine."

            At the same time, the cannon exploded and sent it flying towards the high mountain. It hit the top and Rukawa's troop, including Mido, groaned. "He had the cannon so close!" Mido grumbled to himself as he hid under the snow out of sight. "What is he doing?!" Uozumi laughed menacingly at upon seeing this and looked at Sakuragi devilishly, "Is that your master plan, woman? Hit the mountain so that you can scare us?"

            "Guess again!" Sakuragi grinned as he pointed towards the mountain.

             The tables had actually turned as the blast from the cannon caused a serious avalanche. Tones and tones of snow came sliding off the mountain and rolling their way. Uozumi stared wide-eyed at it before throwing Sakuragi angrily to the snowy ground. Sakuragi let out a victorious laugh and was about to get up to escape when Uozumi took out his sword and slashed Sakuragi's waist. Sakuragi let out a groan and the men let out protests—how could their leader hurt their dream girl?

            But there was no time for stopping. Holding his slashed waist, he quickly made a dash for it. The 15-feet wave-sized avalanche came zooming down towards the Shirogane Clan and covered them one by one. Rukawa's troop took tot heir heels and ran for cover. They dashed under tall rocks and hid behind them, using them as shields as the snow rumbled down, covering more and more ground and taking more and more of the Shirogane Clan members with it. Sakuragi searched frantically for Oukustu and it turned out the stallion was searching frantically for him. Mido was surfing on one of the Shirogane's helmet also searching frantically for him, but ended up finding Noma the mynah instead.

            As Sakuragi rode Oukutsu, he caught sight of Rukawa almost being swallowed up by the avalanche. He yelled "Kitsune!!" and held out his hand to him. Rukawa saw him and grabbed hold of the hand. Sakuragi, with his never ending strength, pulled him up onto Oukutsu and quickly rode off, racing with the gaining avalanche. He even caught sight of Mido and pulled him too up onto Oukutsu. Unfortunately, the avalanche was faster and soon caught them, bringing them down with it as it rolled down closer and closer towards the cliff.

            Sakuragi's girlfriends, who were hiding behind the tall rocks, quickly went into action. Haroko took an arrow and tied the end to a rope. She called Fujii and Yuki to carry her up to see where their friend and their captain were falling.

            "Do you see them, Haroko?" Fujii asked as she climbed onto Yuki's shoulders and placed Haroko on hers.

            "Yeah, I see them!" Haroko hollered back as she saw Sakuragi and his horse sliding by. "I'm shooting it now!"

            She did shoot the arrow successfully towards them, but failed to grab the rope just in time. The rope just flew down and down, following the falling Sakuragi. Sakuragi saw the arrow and grabbed it, and as he fell, he shot the arrow back up, hoping someone would catch it. And talk about dumb luck; while Haroko whined and wailed about unable to save her best friend, the arrow just fell into her open palms and was almost dragged down to the cliff as the weight pulled her down. Everyone jumped on her and pulled. With the combined strength and teamwork, they pulled and pulled until they could see Sakuragi and his horse with Rukawa on it. Quickly, they dragged him back up the hill they were standing on.

            As soon as they were back up in safety, the first thing Rukawa did was seize Sakuragi by the sleeve and growled, "You do'aho! You're the zaniest, craziest, silliest, most suicidal woman I have ever seen in my entire life!"

            Sakuragi pouted. All this and yet he was showering angry words at him? That wasn't fair!

            Unexpectedly, Rukawa's eyes softened and said lowly, "For that I owe you my life. Arigatogozaimas, Minako."

            Sakuragi smiled as he heard the words come out of Rukawa's mouth. He finally said something good about him in public. Without warning, he seized Rukawa and hugged him tight out of his overwhelmed feelings. He only let go when everyone let out a long 'Ooh' at them, blushing like heck. He thought Rukawa was blushing too but he didn't dare to look at him in the eye.

            "Three cheers for Sakuragi Minako, the bravest soldier of the Amazon Island!" Haroko cheered, and the rest followed, including the evil threesome who first bullied him. They gave Sakuragi a clap in the back and congratulated him for his courageous feat.  

            Suddenly, Sakuragi felt a painful sting on his side. He then remembered that Uozumi had slashed his waist when he found out that Sakuragi had blasted the mountain and caused the avalanche. He groaned and clutched his waist. Rukawa was the first to tend to him. When Sakuragi opened his hand, he saw blood covering it and was seeping out of his armour. He remembered something about Mido saying not to shed blood but his mind was going drowsy and his head was going woozy. He couldn't hold on much longer. He was fading slowly away into unconsciousness.

            "Hold on, Minako. Hold on…" Rukawa's words were the last thing he heard.

A/N: Oh no! What would happen to Sakuragi now?! Will he be found out? Not telling! Reviews plz!  


	9. Busted!

A/N: Now let's get on with the suspense! I can't bear to know that Sakuragi is going to be found out! YAGH~!!! Oh, and while you're reading the sad part, try to imagine the Final Fantasy X's theme song where there's a romantic scene between Tidus & Yuna. I was listening to it while writing this fic and it sounded pretty sad yet great. If this were an anime, I would really recommend this song to be put on. ^_^

Disclaimer: I don't own Slam Dunk and its characters, and neither do I own Mulan for that matter. :P

                                                                        CHAPTER 9 – BUSTED 

            Everyone was waiting outside the tent as Sakuragi was taken in for medical treatment. They were utmost worried when they saw their heroine (?) bleeding in the waist and fainting on the spot. They realized that Sakuragi's wound was really serious when the blood that seeped through Sakuragi's armour was covering the white snow in red. They moved as quickly as possible to Rukawa's aunt, Rukawa Kaoru's base camp where the Primal City's military doctor was at. He was immediately carried into the medical tent and everyone waited anxiously outside.

            Perhaps the most anxious one would be ours truly Rukawa Kaede. He paced back and forth in front of the tent non-stop and nothing and no one present could stop him from doing that. The girls could've guessed he would do that though—they have branded them a couple anyway. All they could do know is pray that their Sakuragi Minako would turn out alright.

            As Rukawa paced outside the medical tent, millions of thought went through his mind. 'What would happen to Minako? Will she be alright? Will the wound be deep? The blood actually redden the snow; it could be deep…But Minako is a strong woman, I'm sure she'll pull through…I hope she pulls through. But what if she doesn't? What if this time…she's not that lucky? If she doesn't pull through this, I'm afraid I won't be able to…' 

            He suddenly stopped in his tracks when the thought came to his mind. What was he thinking? That he won't be able to handle or live with it if Sakuragi dies? What the heck was he thinking?! Were the girls in his troop right all along? He had heard them talking about him liking Sakuragi but he had ignored the fact by thinking that this redhead has nothing worthy enough to be liked. 'Well, she has all the qualities a woman should have—strong, tough, spunk, bravery, the smarts and all that, but…' Rukawa slapped his head and felt his face burning as he groaned to himself, 'Who am I kidding? I…I do like her! I like her a lot! I like her too much to let her leave this world! I…' he hesitated before the thought came to his mind, 'I want…I want her to…God! I even want her to marry me! Damn, I really _am_ in love with her! Please, please, gods and goddesses. Please don't take her away from me, please!'

            Just as soon as that thought came to his mind, the doctor came out of the tent. His face looked pretty confused and all and everyone was anxious to know how was Sakuragi Minako was doing. The threesome Haroko, Fujii and Yuki and the other girls looked at Rukawa and the doctor talking in serious tones and saw that Rukawa's face switched from anxiousness to shock. What has happened? Is there something wrong with Sakuragi Minako? They were getting more and more curious by the minute. Only Mido and Noma, who were held in Haroko's arms, knew what was going on and feared the worst.

            Rukawa couldn't believe what the doctor had just told him. He had to confirm it for himself. He rushed into the tent and saw Sakuragi lying on the mattress on the floor with the blanket pulled over him. He was slightly awake and when he opened his eyes and saw Rukawa standing at the entrance of the tent, he smiled and sat up, much to Rukawa's horror. He saw that the big-breasted, model-figured Sakuragi Minako was not there anymore. Instead, what he saw was a redhead wrapped in bandages on his waist and yet with a flat chest, broad shoulders, quite muscular arms and definitely a masculine face. It wasn't the Sakuragi Minako he knew, but the Sakuragi Hanamichi he used to be and never seen before.

            Sakuragi realized that the kitsune was staring at him. He looked down and saw that his body has returned back into his original form. He was shocked. How could this be?! How did he turn back to normal?? What has gone wrong?? Then he realized that he was wounded and like a bolt of lightning, Mido's words came back to him:

            "Shed no blood or all that is female on you is lost…"

            Quickly, he pulled the blanket up to his body and stammered, "Annou…A-re…Rukawa, I can explain…"

            But Hikoichi, the Queen's counselor, barged in before he could say anything else. He widened his eyes at this sight and hissed, "So it's true! You have committed a serious crime! I should have known about this heathen treachery! Come here, you outlaw!"

            Disregarding Sakuragi's stinging wound, he pulled Sakuragi out of the mattress and out of the tent. Surprisingly, Sakuragi didn't attempt to fight or head-butt the haughty counselor nor did Rukawa tried to stop Hikoichi from pulling him out of the tent with such harshness. Hikoichi flung the redhead onto the snowy ground and said, "This is treason, ladies! We have a law-breaker among us! And he's a man!"

            Everyone gasped, especially Haroko, Fujii and Yuki. They found it hard to believe that the Minako they knew and seen naked before was actually a man. It was an unbelievable sight. They didn't know what to think at first. Rukawa stepped out of the tent and stood before Sakuragi who was kneeling on the floor.

            "My name is Sakuragi Hanamichi. My mother Sakuragi Midori never had a daughter. I am her only child," Sakuragi tried to explain to Rukawa, his eyes unable to meet his. "I did this because I wanted to save her life. She had a bad knee and I can't risk her dying out here like…like your mother. I had to…"

            "But…But that's impossible!" Haroko exclaimed, finally getting back her voice. "We were bathing together! We saw you naked! You were a girl! How could you have…?"

            "I had help. Sorcery, from a…old friend of mine…" Sakuragi said, his eyes trailed towards Mido who was hiding behind Yuk's feet. He didn't want to expose him though.

            "Whatever method you've used to get in here, you know you have done a serious crime!" Hikoichi exclaimed, his face a very disapproving look indeed. By then, Rukawa Kaoru's troop was gathering around the area to see what the commotion was about. "You are a man and you shouldn't be in war, not unless you are the son of a high-ranking soldier! Your mother is only a common private, not a general! Such crime must be dealt with! Take his sword!"

            At that command, everyone knows what fate lies for Sakuragi, even his own stallion Oukutsu. He whinnied and stamped in protest and Hikoichi ordered the members of the troop to restrain him. One of them took the sword that was tied to the horse's saddle and handed it to Hikoichi. Hikoichi then handed it to Rukawa and stopped Sakuragi's girlfriends from coming any closer. Man or woman, sorcery or not, Sakuragi was their best friend—their 'girlfriend'—and they can't just let him die like that.

            "You know the rules, girls," Hikoichi said in a warning tone before turning to Rukawa and said, "You know what to do, captain."

            Rukawa unsheathed the sword out of the case and brandished it in front of Sakuragi. Sakuragi knew that his time has come, but he found it hard to believe that he was going to die by his family sword and by the man he had finally come to love. He sighed in defeat and lowered his head, exposing his neck to Rukawa. If he were to die in the hands of his secret love, so be it. He knew he had committed a serious crime and he knew that he had betrayed his love. He would ask for nothing more than to be relieved of the guilt by the one he once hated and now loved. He could hear several protests and whining from his fellow troop members but he knew that they have no way of going against the law of the Amazon Island. He could feel Rukawa's aura as he raised the sword over his head. He was ready…

            When he opened his eyes, he saw the sword before him. He stared at the sword that gleamed under the light of the setting sun. He was surprised; why was he spared? He had committed a crime and he should be punished. Why was his head still intact? His head should be rolling on the snow right now. What was going on? He looked up and saw the cold eyes of Rukawa Kaede upon him. Those eyes. The same exact cold eyes the first time they met. Sakuragi shrank back, his heart going sour.

            "A life for a life," Rukawa said quietly. "You saved mine and now I saved yours. I owe you nothing. Ladies, we'll move out with Lieutenant Rukawa Kaoru to the Primal City first thing tomorrow morning. I expect you all to wake up early before the sun rises."

            Everyone muttered in obligation. Hikoichi witnessed all this in disbelief and rushed to Rukawa, saying, "What are you doing? He has committed a crime! Why aren't you…"

            "I said," Rukawa glared coldly at the Queen's counselor straight in the eye, "we move out tomorrow morning. Is that clear or do I have to repeat myself again?"

            Hikoichi wanted to protest but he could feel that all eyes were looking at him warningly. So finally, with one last look of disapproval at Sakuragi Hanamichi, he walked off with the other troops to set up their tents, leaving Sakuragi alone at the snow with sad eyes staring at the sword in the cold.

                                                                                                *

            When Sakuragi woke up the next morning, he noticed that his tent was the only one left in the snowy grounds. Everyone has already left to Primal City, including Rukawa Kaoru's troop. He was all alone in the snowy wilderness without anyone by his side, well, except Mido and Noma and his stallion Oukutsu, that is. His friends Haroko, Fujii and Yuki were nowhere to be seen. He hadn't seen them since his secret has been found and they have never come to approach him later last night, like they used to when he was a girl, giggling and chattering and gossiping all night long.

            He was alone. All alone.

            As he sighed and sat down looking at the vast emptiness around him, Mido and Noma came out of the tent and sat down beside him. After about 10 minutes of revered silence, Mido decided to break the ice.

            "So, uh, Master Hanamichi…What are you going to do now?"

            "I dunno…" Sakuragi sighed as he picked up the helmet to look at his reflection. "I've tried to explain it to my mother that if she ever come out here to this war, she'll die. No one ever listens to me. As a matter of fact, no one ever listens to a _boy_. I thought I did the right thing. I thought that by allowing you to change me into a girl and blend in with the troop, I'll sell out as a girl and win this war, and at the same time, save my mother's life and honour my family's namesake. But what do I get now? Nothing! Absolutely nothing!"

            Mido dodged the helmet that was flung away by Sakuragi in frustration. He tried to make things clearer, "Well, at least you won the war. I mean you've defeated the Shirogane Clan, didn't you? You've earned everyone's respect, and you earned Rukawa's trust."

            "He gave _Minako_ his trust, not _Hanamichi_! They respected _Sakuragi Minako_, not _Sakuragi Hanamichi_! I can't believe I have fallen for someone who only believes in the girl-me, not the boy-me! He'll never like me now that he knows who I really am!" 

            Mido didn't expect his master to finally admit that he does have a liking for Rukawa Kaede. He tried to say something nice but when he saw that Sakuragi's eyes were welled up with tears and was trembling in sorrow as he sobbed, emitting mists out of his mouth, he decided to let his master cry his heart out before he said anything else. As the warm tears trickled down Sakuragi's cheeks, his eyes shifted back into the vast emptiness before him.

            "Maybe I didn't come here to save my mother. Maybe I didn't come here for her wellbeing at all. Maybe I came here just to prove that I am as great as any woman can be put together. Maybe I'm here to make my point—that we men should be treated just as equally as women are…I guess I blew it now. Not only I didn't make it clear to them, I have dishonoured my family…"

            "Now don't you ever say that, Master Hanamichi," Mido said as he went up to Sakuragi and wiped away his tears. "You didn't blow everything up, well, except the mountain, that is. But the point is you didn't dishonour your family. What you did, whatever reason for you to do this, is unique and one of a kind. And if anyone of your family doesn't feel proud of you and appreciate you for doing this, I would personally think that they are the ones being dishonourable, not you. And I mean it too."

            Sakuragi smiled and as he took Mido into his arms and embraced him gratefully, he replied, "You're right. I should've known better than to treat myself like trash. Well, I guess we have enough excitement for one day. Let's go home."

            Oukutsu whinnied, Noma chirped and Mido mewed in agreement. Sakuragi quickly dressed up in his boy clothes and hopped onto Oukutsu and was riding towards the east where his village was when all of a sudden, he heard a loud roar of anger and defeat. He led Oukutsu to a secluded place and hid to see what was going on.

            To his shock, he found himself at the place where the avalanche had buried the Shirogane Clan. In the middle of the thick mound of snow, there stood the giant leader of the clan Uozumi looking very angry indeed. Sakuragi was struck beyond disbelief. How did this 2-meter giant survive the 10-feet thick heavy snow that covered up the entire Shirogane Clan and came out alive without a single scratch?? As he continued to watch, more and more people actually came out of the snow. He recognized all of them—they were the men who were fighting for him during the attack. Sendoh was the first to come out, followed by the wild-haired Kyota, the dark-skinned Maki, then Fujima, Koshino and lastly Hanagata. The 6 of them stood tall and mighty without as much as a single cut on their skin.

            "That darn redhead!! She almost got us killed!!!" Kyota was the one to complain. "When I get my hands on her, she's going to suffer so much that she'll be begging me to give her mercy!!"

            "Don't you dare lay your hands on her yet," Hanagata said. "I'll personally do the honours of giving her a night she will not forget for the rest of her living days."

            "Boys, boys, be nice," Sendoh said in his usual macho, nonchalant way. "She's a woman. A woman needs a gentleman's touch, not some ragamuffin's ass-kicking attitude."

            "And what a fine opponent she is," Uozumi said in his low authoritative voice. "She'll make a fine Queen once I've taken over the Amazon Island Queen's throne. Come on, men, we still have an island to conquer."

            "Yeah! We might be able to catch up that redhead!" Kyota cheered as he ran ahead everyone else. The rest followed suite with Uozumi leading the way (that is, after pushing the leading Kyota aside).

            Sakuragi started to worry. They were heading towards Primal City and if he didn't do something, Amazon Island would be doomed as they would be caught off guard. Everyone thought that the Shirogane Clan has been defeated. They wouldn't stand a chance against a surprise attack like that, not with the 2-meter giant Uozumi around. Without thinking twice, he turned his stallion around towards the Primal City's direction.

            "Uh, Master Hanamichi," Mido said, pointing towards the east. "Home is that-a-way!"

            "I gotta go down there and warn the people about the surviving Shirogane Clan! They're in deep danger now!" Sakuragi said anxiously.

            "Um, hello! In case you haven't noticed, you're off the team, remember?! They're not gonna listen to you! And did you see those Shirogane guys?? They practically came out of the snow, like some zombie coming out of their graves!! Doesn't that freak you out a little??"

            "Well, I know it's not the smartest thing to do," Sakuragi replied as he stopped Oukutsu for a while, looking at the bronze-eyed neko in determination. "But I know it's the right thing to do though."

            Mido stared at Sakuragi for a while, then chuckled. He should've expected this. He clapped him on the back and said, "Now that's the Master Hanamichi I know! Come on! Let's go kick some Shirogane butt!!"

            Soon, the Sakuragi dynamic team went racing down towards the direction of Primal City.

A/N: Wohoo~!! Go, Sakuragi, go~!!! While you guys cheer for him, let me work on my next chappie. Reviews plz! 


	10. Trying To Do What's Right

A/N: Hullo, hullo, hullo! Ohayo gozaimasu~!!! How're we all doing today? We're seriously going into the heat of the story now! There's action! There are features! There's everything you ever hoped in an action show…OK, I'm exaggerating a little. Just sit back and enjoy the ride! 

Disclaimer: I don't own Slam Dunk and its characters, and neither do I own Mulan for that matter. :P

                                                CHAPTER 10 – TRYING TO DO WHAT'S RIGHT

            The Primal City was filled with lights and happy cheers as Rukawa Kaede's troop was paraded through the city. Everyone had heard about their victory in defeating the Shirogane Clan and soon everyone was looking forward to see those young heroines in person as word spread fast in Primal City. When the troops stepped into the Primal City, they were immediately greeted with cheers and congratulations and were showered with thanks for defeat another threat towards this sacred island.

            Unfortunately, their happiness was not shared by Rukawa's troop. They seem to look pretty gloomy and guilty for taking all the credit. Everyone has disregarded their sullen looks as a sing of fatigue after fighting a great battle, but if only they knew that all this victory was achieved by only one soldier, and a man at that. They didn't know what to say or do to make themselves feel any better. They just silently let the crowd parade them.

            By far, the most uncomfortable person among the troop was Rukawa Kaede himself. He looked at all the happy, grateful faces that were before him and had the slightest feeling that he didn't deserve these thanks. These thanks were not meant for him; they were meant for the best soldier in his team Sakuragi Minako. He then realized that the Sakuragi Minako he knew wasn't there at all, but a man named Sakuragi Hanamichi who put on a hoax to enter the team. He couldn't believe that he actually had thought about Sakuragi taking him as a husband. He's not gay! He's as straight as can be! He likes girls just like other men do! But he had fallen in love with Sakuragi…His heart felt really confused and disturbed about all this. Did he like Sakuragi because 'she' was a woman or did he like Sakuragi for who he is…? He didn't know what else to think.

            Hikoichi, on the other hand, seem to be enjoying all the attention, though.

            Suddenly, the ever familiar whinny of Oukutsu echoed along the way. Everyone turned to see Sakuragi riding his blonde mane stallion towards them, his face showing a trace of anxiousness and a little relief to see them all here. He rode past his girlfriends, ignoring their calls "Minako!" and followed along beside Rukawa. Rukawa glared at him with his usual cold blue eyes.

            "What are you doing here, Sakuragi Hanamichi?" Rukawa asked with a grudging tone.

            "I'm here to warn you guys," Sakuragi replied. "The Shirogane Clan are not all entirely dead. There are some of the members still alive. I saw them! They came out of the snow and they're heading this way right now to conquer Queen Ayako!"

            "Why should I believe you?" 

            "Because I'm telling the truth this time! This is not a hoax! It's true! I saw them with my own eyes!"

            "Right, like I should trust you after what you have done to my troop. You almost made my troop lose its honour because you," Rukawa said as he rode away from Sakuragi. Sakuragi scowled and brought his horse right in front of Rukawa's.

            "It's true! I saw those men coming out of the snow. They are unstoppable and they will stop at nothing to take over Amazon Island and its women," Sakuragi urged as he went closer towards Rukawa. "You baka kitsune! Baka, baka kitsune! You said you trust Minako, why is Hanamichi anything different?"

            Rukawa stared at Sakuragi for a minute or two before looking away and rode off, obviously not wanting to have anything to do with him. Sakuragi let out a sigh. If talking doesn't work, he might as well do things his way. As Haroko, Fujii and Yuki passed by him, he warned again, "Keep on a lookout, girls. They might be among us."

            He waited until the parade has entered the domains of the Prime Castle, the Queen's home, before riding after them. He put Oukutsu at a corner and squeezed his way through the crowd to go closer towards the castle. He saw Rukawa's troop walking up the steps of the Prime Castle towards the Queen who had just came out of the castle. If you had a digital camera and can zoom it towards Queen Ayako's direction, you'll see that she was a marvel to behold. Her dark curly hair ran down towards her waist and she was wearing great make-up. Her tiara sparkled under the moonlight and her royal black gown matched perfectly with the long gloves that ran up to her elbows. The gown was really long and as it dragged onto the floor, beautiful sparkling tiny beads and crystals the size of a pinhead twinkled like stars. She was wearing a beautiful necklace—which was obviously priceless—and the slightest light it caught immediately dazzled and illuminated her beauty even more. Many were fooled by her majestic look as they didn't know that she fight as gracefully and strongly as she was beautiful. At the entrance of the castle door stood her first and second husband, namely Miyagi and Mitsui respectfully, also dressed as richly as she was.

            Hikochi went up the remaining stairs quickly towards Queen Ayako and knelt down before her, taking her long skirt and kissing its beads as a sign of respect. Rukawa came later and did the same. The rest of the troop remained knelt before her. Out of nowhere, Queen Ayako produced a paper fan and hit Hikoichi lightly on the head with it.

            "You have been away for so long, you naughty man!" Queen Ayako giggled naughtily as she hit him again. "Your replacement was so not reliable at all. I was thinking that if you stay away from this castle a little longer, I might consider throwing him into the gallows! Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho ho~!"

            Rukawa and his troop sweatdropped. Her attitude practically contradicted the charismatic look she had on her. They didn't expect this from a very respectable Queen who made her way up to the top of the throne.

            "Forgive me, my Queen," Hikoichi replied with a smile, obviously used to Queen Ayako's sudden humourous gestures. "May I present you, the heroines that have helped save the island from the Shirogane Clan."

            "Please, please, please, girls," Queen Ayako said as she waved her hands upwards. "Stand, all of you. No need to be so formal and all. You are our saviour after all. Dozo, dozo!"

            The troop did as they were told. The Queen then turned to the citizens and suddenly switched to the majestic mode and said, "My people! My children! We have lived in this island for many, many generations now and we are rest assured that we'll continue to live here for generations to come! All thanks to our heroines of the Amazon Island!"

            Everyone cheered, much to the troop's discomfort. They still couldn't help feeling that they didn't deserve all this credit. Queen Ayako turned to Rukawa and handed the Primal Sword, a token of war from the castle, to him and said, "I know your mother well. She was a great general and a great warrior, and so are you. You have fought hard for this war and risked your life to save my people. Your mother would be very proud."

            Rukawa nodded, but somehow, deep inside him, he wanted to clear all this misunderstanding. He didn't deserve this sword. He shouldn't be the only one awarded with the Primal Sword and be the only one to honour the family. He had to say something—at least just something to make him feel better about himself. He turned towards his troop and they all had the same look on their faces. 'This is it,' he thought. 'I'm going to tell Queen Ayako the truth!'

            Before he could say a word, suddenly the huge parade caterpillar tore open. Out came the surviving Shirogane Clan members Uozumi and company. Without even breaking a sweat, Sendoh, Kyota, Fujima, Maki, Hanagata and Koshino beat the girls off and rushed towards Rukawa and asked simultaneously, "Where is the beautiful redhead??"

            "Now is not the time, boys!" Uozumi yelled, grabbing the Queen Ayako by the throat, pointing a knife threateningly at her jugular. "Cover me while we all go inside the castle! There'll be plenty of time to find that redhead!"

            The men did as they were told. Firing arrows and using their strength, they barged their way through the people who tried to keep them out of the castle. As soon as they were inside, they barred the door shut and the troop was left outside banging in vain at it. They decided to try and get one of the statue of luck placed near the door and make a break in.

           Meanwhile, Sakuragi was trying desperately to get people to listen to him and tell them to find help, but unfortunately, he was a boy and boys' words are often disregarded. When he, Mido and Noma saw that the Queen has already been taken hostage and that the door was being barred, he began to worry.

            "They'll never get to the Queen in time!" Sakuragi groaned as he saw the troop banging the statue of luck against the door. "Time for some drastic measures!"

            Holding Mido and Noma under his armpit like a rugby ball, he barged his way through the anxious crowd, knocking them over like bowling pins. He ran all the way up the castle stairs and towards the troop who was still trying to break the door open. He let out a loud whistle and Rukawa, Haroko, Fujii and Yuki turned to look at him.

            "I've got an idea!" Sakuragi exclaimed. "If you wanna get inside the castle faster, you'll have to come with me!"

            Haroko, Fujii and Yuki looked at each other for a while, considering whether to go with Sakuragi or not. After a few seconds, they let go of the statue and followed suite. Like they have said, man or woman, Sakuragi Minako or Sakuragi Hanamichi, the redhead was still their friend and forever will be. They ran together with Sakuragi to one of the secluded walls of the castle where there were many poles for them to climb and be able to sneak in.

            "First, you'll need a disguise. You'll have to pretend to be the Queen's male concubines," Sakuragi said, much to the girls' horror.

            "What?! Pretend to be a man?? How degrading can we go??" Haroko practically squealed in protest.

            "You wanna go save the Queen or not?" Sakuragi asked. The girls nodded hesitantly.

            "But how are you going to make us into men? Our faces look nothing like a man!" Yuki said.

            "Leave that to me. Just close your eyes," Sakuragi replied as he picked Mido up. He whispered to the bronze-eyed cat and asked, "Can you give them a sex change that doesn't anything of that no blood shed crap?"

            "Well, I can lighten the magic a little and make them into men for about…say, 10 minutes," Mido contemplated a little.

            "That'll do great!" Sakuragi said and held Mido close to their noses. "Alright, girls. Remember, don't rub your nose. This sorcery is from that old friend of mine I mentioned. You won't feel a thing."

            One by one, Mido licked their noses and made them sneeze. Immediately, their breasts shrank and their faces changed from that feminine look to a masculine kind of look. Their hair became shorter and they became slightly taller, with broad shoulders and flat chests. An Adam's apple grew under their throat and when they open their eyes to feel their you-know-what, their faces screwed up in mixed feelings of horror and awe.

            "My…My…it's…long! I, uh, what is this sorcery??" Fujii was the first to say it.

            "It's a lighter version of my sex change magic. Don't worry, it's temporary, for about 10 minutes," Sakuragi said as he tossed them some scarves. "Here, take these and we can go inside and fight."

            They obligingly and awkwardly took the scarves, still feeling a little out of place for being in an ordinary man's body instead of the usual strong body structure of a woman. Sakuragi was impressed. He then took out a scarf of his ownand draped it around the pole, just like the way he did during training. The girls—now boys—did the same. A few minutes later, they saw Rukawa joining in. Words need not to be spoken. They were thankful that the captain has finally joined in their quest to save the Queen.

            Together, the foursome and Rukawa inched their way higher and higher up the pole and getting closer and closer towards one of the castle windows.

A/N: Wee~! Now our dear blue-eyed kitsune has trusted our redhead do'aho and joined the fight! I promise you there'll be great action in the next chappie! Reviews plz! 


	11. The Tensai Will Always Prevail

A/N: So, how did you enjoy the fic so far? Pretty peachy, huh? Now we're into the very funny, very suspense part! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Slam Dunk and its characters, and neither do I own Mulan for that matter. :P

                                                CHAPTER 11 – THE TENSAI WILL ALWAYS PREVAIL

            Once inside, they all tried to blend in with the surrounding. They came across some male concubines who were hiding in their own chambers trying to keep out of sight from the Shirogane Clan members who were walking around in search of any intruders. Sakuragi hushed them and whispered their plans to them. One of the male concubines, Anta, offered them some of their rich garments for them to wear. After wearing the clothes, Haroko, Fujii and Yuki really sell out like a true man. Sakuragi grinned at the sight of them.

            Soon they put their plan into action. First they come out chattering as if they had no idea about the sudden invasion. They passed by our famous Sendoh and Kyota and almost immediately, Sakuragi's red hair and tall figure stood out from the rest. Sendoh and Kyota approached him as quick as a flash.

            "Hello, my little redhead," Sendoh said with a charming smile on his face. "Fancy seeing you here among the Queen's male concubines."

            "Yeah! Aren't you afraid that the Queen would have your beautiful little redhead hung at her trophy room?" Kyota said as he started to undress the horrified Sakuragi. They still think that he was a girl. Well, Kyota's lust-filled face immediately changed into horror when he found that Sakuragi was a flat-chest instead of the D-cup sized woman he met at the snowy mountains. Sendoh noticed it too.

            "You're…You're a man?!" Sendoh exclaimed softly, looking back and forth from Sakuragi's face to his chest and back again.

            "What do you think I am, you hentai, Venus the Goddess of Love?" Sakuragi replied in disgust.

            Sendoh and Kyota stared at Sakuragi for a long while before the tall haired man grinned and said, "No biggie. I'm a bisexual anyway."

            "Well, I don't mind being a bisexual just for once," Kyota scratched his chin. "Come here, you lovely piece of art!"

            Sakuragi was way too overwhelmed to give the signal for attack as these two hentai-s 'attacked' first. Haroko and the gang didn't need any signal. They immediately jumped onto the men's back and try to beat the lights out of them but they were too strong and trained a lot to be beaten by mere sex-changed women. Without warning, Rukawa came in between Sendoh and Kyota, glared at them possessively and angrily before taking out his twin daggers he inherited from his mother and stabbed their shoulders.

            "Nobody takes my redhead," Rukawa hissed at the two bleeding Shirogane members before Haroko and Yuki hit the lights out of them. Sakuragi thought he heard him say that but there was no time for sappy overwhelming feelings. They have to get to the leader of the Shirogane Clan, Uozumi. While Sakuragi and his girlfriends fought their way towards the balcony of the castle where Queen Ayako was held captive, Rukawa raced his way through. The Queen was his first priority. Sakuragi was the most desperate to get rid of all the Shirogane Clan members because they were approaching him with those lust-filled eyes and calling him "My redhead darling" and all. He head-butted all of them without a care in the world.

            "Looks like you're really everything a man wants in their life, whether you're a man or a woman," Haroko said.

            "Urusai!" Sakuragi growled. He had enough of being somebody else's dream partner.

            At the balcony, Uozumi dragged Queen Ayako to face her people and, with the knife still at her jugular, threatened, "You will denounce your title as the Queen of Amazon Island and give all your riches and your throne to me in front of all these pathetic fools below you! Now bow down to me!"

            "I will not!" Queen Ayako said sternly as she hit her paper fan onto Uozumi's head. "You may have my throne and all, but you'll never have the hearts of my people! I will not allow the sacredness of the Amazon women to be corrupted by the likes of you!"

            "Then you die by your own foolishness!" Uozumi growled as he raised the knife high to stab the Queen's heart. Queen Ayako didn't have time to react. She may be a great fighter but she definitely had no power against this foreign man who was 2 meter tall and had the strength of 20 cows. She closed her eyes and tried to protect herself with her paper fan.

            Just when Uozumi was about to stab her, Rukawa appeared just in time and threw one of his twin daggers at Uozumi's hand, making him drop the knife. Uozumi glared venomously at the blue-eyed, fox-faced man and flung the Queen aside. While Haroko, Yuki and Fujii led the Queen towards her safety by sliding down the pole while holding the Queen in their arms, the battle between the giant and the kitsune started. Blows after blows were hit at each other, but it was evident that Uozumi had the upper hand with his abnormally large sword. He soon kicked the twin daggers out of Rukawa's hands and sent him crashing on his back onto the castle floor. He raised his sword above his head and growled, "I'll teach you for sending my worthy men down to their graves and mess with my victory!"

            "STOP!!! It is me that you want!!" A loud yell was heard and a bowl was thrown at Uozumi's thick head. He turned to see ours truly Sakuragi standing there with his eyes full of anger and challenge with his red flowing hair blown under the wind. Uozumi widened his eyes at the sight of him.

            "The beautiful redhead!" Uozumi muttered under his breath and charged after him. Sakuragi split and ran back into the castle. As he ran, he dodged the blows from Uozumi's huge sword. Once in a while he gave Uozumi a punch or a kick in the butt or a head-butt or two, but the 2 meter giant remained standing. Mido and Noma came out of their hiding place and ran after Sakuragi.

            "So, you got any ideas how we're gonna get out of here?" Mido asked, trying to catch up with the sprinter Sakuragi.

            "Uh, not entirely," Sakuragi said sheepishly.

            "You mean to tell me you have no plan at all??"

            "Hey, I'm working on it was I go, OK? I'm no Einstein!" Sakuragi said. Soon he saw from the window the tower where the castle members put out their fireworks. He turned to Mido with a smile and Mido winked, putting a thumbs-up. With great leaps, the cat jumped from one roof to another with the mynah following close behind until he entered the fireworks tower. From there, he scared the workers into coming down the tower with his glowing bronze eyes and his exaggerated scary voice and smuggled a huge rocket.

            Meanwhile, the fight between Uozumi and Sakuragi has led them up to the high roof of the castle. Uozumi swung his sword again and again at Sakuragi, barely missing his hair. He looked at Sakuragi with his lust-filled eyes and said, "Seems like you've run out of bright ideas now, haven't you? Well, after I've defeated you and place myself as the rightful king of Amazon Island, you are going to be my wife and we'll certainly make beautiful music together, that is, if my men doesn't do it first before me."

            "Sorry to disappoint you," Sakuragi replied with a disgust look on his face, "but I've already been taken. Besides, I'm a man, and I bet you're not interested in men now, are you?"

            Uozumi kept silent for a while before chuckling and replied, "Well, in that case I can make an exception now, can't I?"

            Sakuragi grimaced. He didn't expect men from other countries could be so lenient and just do whatever they want to do with people. He was even surprised to see that these hentai-s are willing to be gay just for the sake of having him. 'Now that's seriously demented,' he thought. 

            Soon he caught sight of Mido at the opposite end of the roof with the rocket he smuggled strapped onto his back. He smiled and said to Uozumi, "Actually I still have another gig under my sleeve."

            With that he jumped high and landed hard onto Uozumi's shoulders, forcing his feet halfway through the roof, taking Uozumi by surprise. As he struggled to get his stuck feet out of the hole, Sakuragi whistled at Mido, giving him the signal. Mido nodded and pointed his claw at the string, lighting the rocket. Within seconds, the rocket was soaring towards Uozumi and hitting him in the gut. Sakuragi caught the bronze-eyed neko just in time as the rocket carried Uozumi all the way towards the fireworks tower. The rocket exploded and so did Uozumi with it. The whole firework tower was alight as the other fireworks inside the tower were lit and they whizzed and fizzed and burned throughout the evening sky. Uozumi, needless to say, was fried beyond recognition and he surely couldn't survive this one.

            Sakuragi cheered and gave Mido a high-five before sliding down to the stairs of the castle using the rope that hung the lanterns with flourish. He came up to his girlfriends who were now back into their original sex again and gave them a group hug. Rukawa has come out of the castle and rushed over to him and also gave him a hug, much to the girls' amazement and Sakuragi's surprise. When he finally let go, he was actually blushing as red as Sakuragi's flushed face. The girls giggled and oohed at them.

            Hikoichi then suddenly appeared looking very battered and dirty indeed (obviously he got a little taste of fireworks) and was fuming mad. Behind him was the Queen, who looked less charismatic and majestic than before, but more or less a-OK. The Queen's counselor stomped towards Sakuragi and began ranting and raving at him.

            "You imbecile! You rogue! You inconsiderate, crazy fool! Look what you have done to the Queen's castle! You have practically caused a serious riot over the whole Primal City! You should be locked in the dungeon for this…"

            His angry words were cut short by the Queen's hand. She stepped towards the redhead and said in a leveled voice, "I've heard about you too, and I know your mother. You've stolen your mother's armour and sword. You impersonated a woman and infiltrated the training camp. You entered the war when you know that you are no high-ranked officer's son and that men are not allowed at all to join the war. You caused a great confusion in your troop and even ruined my castle."

            Sakuragi shrank. He didn't think that he had done so much damage just because he wanted to help his mother and help the Primal City.

            "And," Queen Ayako continued, "you have saved us all from the Shirogane Clan. For that, I thank you."

            With that, she curtsied to Sakuragi, something only a royal person with high gratitude would do. At upon seeing this, Hikoichi went onto all fours on the floor. Rukawa went down on one knee gracefully and with suavity. Haroko, Fujii and Yuki also did the same. Sakuragi was shocked. They were actually bowing down to him? But…But all he did was just trying to help his mother and save the Queen. In fact, all this adventure started when he wanted to save his mother's life. He turned around and saw that the rest of the citizens of Primal City also did the same—going down on one knee or on all fours as gratitude. This was too much. Sakuragi felt awkward all over.

            "Come on, man! Stand up! Please, don't do this! It's too much!" Sakuragi said. "I may be a tensai, but this is too much! Nya ha ha ha ha ha~!!"

            Everyone slowly got up. Queen Ayako smiled and called Hikoichi using her paper fan to get up on his feet before saying, "Hikoichi, make sure that…what's your name again."

            "Hanamichi, Your Majesty," Sakuragi replied. "Sakuragi Hanamichi."

            "Yes, well, make sure that Sakuragi Hanamichi here gets a post in the castle."

            Hikoichi almost choked when he heard that, but he regained his composure so as not to show his disapproval in front of the Queen and said, "But, Your Majesty, there's no position here suitable for him. It's practically full."

            "Fine," Queen Ayako said humourously while pointing her thumb at Hikoichi. "You can have his job, Sakuragi."

            That immediately sent Hikoichi into a total blackout. The girls giggled behind Sakuragi's back. Sakuragi tried to hold his. Rukawa secretly smiled to himself.

            "Thank you very much, Your Majesty," Sakuragi replied. "I would be honoured to be part of the castle, but for the record, I think I've been away from home for too long. I gotta go back home and see my mother before she thinks that I've been decapitated."

            "Very well," Queen Ayako replied as she removed the priceless necklace off her neck and put it around Sakuragi's. "Then take this Primal Sword so that your mother knows what you have done for me, and this necklace so that everyone knows what you have done for the Amazon Island."

            Sakuragi stared in awe at the sparkling necklace before him and, out of his overwhelming heart, he reached out one hand and with one swipe, he hugged the Queen close to him. Queen Ayako was taken by surprise at first before chuckling and hugging him back. The girls were surprised to see that Sakuragi dared to have direct contact with the Queen. If it weren't for Queen Ayako's good nature and humour, his head would be rolling on the floor by now.

            After hugging the Queen, he turned and hugged his girlfriends again, bidding them goodbye and good luck. As he walked towards his horse Oukutsu, Rukawa stepped in front of him, staring at him with his blue eyes.

            "Hait? What do you want, kitsune?" Sakuragi asked.

            "I just…want to say that…you…" Rukawa said hesitantly, scratching his head before saying briefly, "You fight well. Congratulations. Arigatogozaimas…"

           "Oh," Sakuragi replied, a trace of disappointment on his face. He was expecting him to say something more than that, but he guessed that Rukawa might be still touchy about the fact that he pulled such a big hoax onto the troop. He sighed and got on Oukutsu, riding off down the castle stairs and towards the direction of his village. Rukawa stared at his disappearing figure in surprise: what did I say wrong?

            "You know, you're missing out something very precious," Queen Ayako said suddenly to his ear. "A pinch of salt might be insignificant-looking, but they are the best among all spices."

            "Your Majesty?" Rukawa turned to Queen Ayako, looking confused. As a result, he was hit in the head by the Queen's paper fan.

            "Baka! I know you like him and you're letting him get away! If I were you, I would bang my head on the wall for being such an idiot! He may be a guy, but you don't get to meet this kind of people everyday, you know!"

            Rukawa didn't know what else to say.

A/N: Queen Ayako's right, Rukawa! Go get him! While you scold Rukawa for being such a baka kitsune, I'll be working on my next chappie. Be sure to read it! Reviews plz! 


	12. A Surprisingly Happy Ending

A/N: Ladies and gentlemen~!! Presenting the finale of this parody~!! Hope you'll enjoy it as much I enjoyed writing it, 'coz there is going to be surprising twist to this ending!! 

Disclaimer: I don't own Slam Dunk and its characters, and neither do I own Mulan for that matter. :P

                                                CHAPTER 12 – A SUPRISINGLY HAPPY ENDING

            Mrs. Sakuragi sat alone near the goldfish pond, staring at the goldfishes that were way past their mating season. The juvenile late bloomer has finally mated with the females, and boy, was he the most outstanding of all. She was right—if given time and patience, anything is possible. She wondered if this was a sign that her son was alright.

            No sooner she had that thought than her tall and handsome redhead son stood before her. She was at lost of words at first because his presence came to her as a shock. She didn't even dare to acknowledge him. She was afraid that he would be an illusion, a dream she had often had ever since he had left home out to the dastardly dangerous war.

            "Mom," Sakuragi broke the ice and knelt in front of her. "Don't be angry with me first, Mom. I have gifts from the Primal Castle and from the Queen herself. See, this is the token of war—the Primal Sword. And this," Sakuragi said as he removed the necklace Queen Ayako has given him and put it around her neck, "the necklace from Her Majesty to honour the Sakuragi family. Gomenasai, Mom. Are you…still mad at me?"

            Without warning, Mrs. Sakuragi let the Primal Sword she was holding fall out of her hand and wrapped her arms around her tall, built son. She wept happy tears as she finally realized that the Hana-chan kneeling before her was real. Between sobs, she whispered, "The greatest honour of all, my Hana-chan, is to have you for a son. My son."

            "Of course…" Sakuragi replied softly, finally having a feeling of belonging in his family. "I'm a tensai, remember? I will prevail…He he he he…"

            Sakuragi Hanamichi couldn't hold back his tears for long. To be perfectly honest, he had truly missed his mother the most ever since he left for war. He hugged him back and cried silently too. This touching scene was witnessed by Mr. Sakuragi and the basketball sifu Sensei Ansai, who had heard news about Sakuragi's return.

            "I am so glad your son is finally back from harm's way," Sensei Ansai let out a sigh of relief.

            "Yeah," Mr. Sakuragi agreed. "Although he did bring a sword home instead of a woman."

            "Gomene," Mr. Sakuragi and Sensei Ansai turned to see Rukawa standing behind them with Sakuragi's helmet in his hands. "May I know where's Sakuragi Hanamichi?"

            "Oh, you must be his captain," Mr. Sakuragi smiled as he noticed the armour he was still wearing and pointed at the direction towards the goldfish pond. "He's just right there."

            "Arigato," Rukawa replied and stepped into the front yard and down the garden. He saw the mother and son still in embrace and cleared his throat to be made known that he was there. Sakuragi and his mother tore themselves away from each other.

            "Kitsu…I mean Rukawa! What are you doing here?" Sakuragi asked, blushing.

            "I came to return your helmet," Rukawa said. "Or should I say, _your _helmet, Mrs. Sakuragi."

            "Arigato," Mrs. Sakuragi said as she took the helmet, eyeing from Rukawa to her son and back again. She smiled and said, "I'll be inside the house to help your mother with dinner. Do you want to stay for dinner, Captain Rukawa?"

            "Sunimase, Mrs. Sakuragi," Rukawa replied. "I've got other things to settle later."

            "Suit yourself. Let my Hana-chan know when you change your mind."

            With that, she left her son alone despite Sakuragi's awkward-looking face. He stared at Rukawa in silence and the silent treatment hung in utmost awkwardness for about 5 minutes or so. Mido and Noma, who were looking at them from the ancestral pagoda along with the other ancestors, were grinning slyly, hoping for something great to happen and quick. Sakuragi finally decided to break the ice.

            "So, uh, aren't you going to go now? I mean you did say that you have something else to settle."

            "Actually…" Rukawa scratched his head a little before saying, "I, uh, I came here for another thing."

            "Hait? What thing?" Sakuragi asked, curious (**A/N: For this scene, for those of you who heard it, imagine the background music is the piano theme of Genzomaden Saiyuki's song 'For Real'. It does have a catch to it**).

            "You see…" Rukawa hesitated before putting on a serious face and said, "You pretended to be a girl with whatever method you've used and you have betrayed my trust. You lied to your girlfriends and you lied to my whole troop and you even lied to me. I trusted you. I believed that you were going to be a great warrior when you became the first person to climb up that pole and retrieve the arrow. I believed that you were going to be the best among the troop when I see you improving in all my training routines. I believed that you were ready to fight for the island when that Hikoichi said otherwise. I believed you would be a permanent member in my troop and be the mightiest, wisest and wittiest soldier of the entire island when you destroyed the entire Shirogane Clan and saved my life at the same time. _And _I believed that you would take me as your husband as soon as this war was over. Do you know how it feels to be shattered of all those beliefs by just finding your scam out? Do you know exactly how it feels when all your hopes and dreams go down to the dumps when you discovered that you have been betrayed and lied at?"

            "Go…Gomene…" Sakuragi shrank, his heart going sour all over again, just like that fateful day when he was being busted and found to be a man.

            "Do you have any idea that one small scam can lead to a whole hoard of trouble?" Rukawa continued, gaining closer and closer towards the redhead. Mido was annoyed and wanted to just pounce at the blue-eyed fox but Noma stopped him. "Do you have any idea that you have betrayed my trust? Do you have any idea that you have betrayed my love for you? Do you have any idea that you have broken my heart? Do you? _Do you?!_"

            "Gomenasai!! Gomenasai!!!" Sakuragi had his hands on his ears as tears fell out of his copper-brown eyes, his heart filled with guilt and sorrow. "I didn't know! I didn't know that any of this would lead to so much trouble! I didn't think that a small lie could hurt so many people! I'm sorry!! Gomenasai!! Gomenasai~!!!"

            Suddenly he felt a pair of strong arms around him, hugging him close to a broad chest where he could hear a steady heartbeat. He opened his eyes and saw that he was in Rukawa's embrace. He could feel Rukawa's breath near his neck and his slightly trembling body as he hugged the redhead close to him, not wanting to let go.

            "Don't you ever do that again, you do'aho. You hear me? Don't you ever, _ever_ do this to me again," Rukawa hissed at his ear, sounding more like a desperate urge than anger. Sakuragi nodded and hugged him back.

            "Gomene…Gomene…I will never do it again…I promise…" Sakuragi whispered, his tears continue to flow out of his eyes, but this time it wasn't of sadness or guilt, but of happiness, for his love was just right there, holding him in his arms. How he wished that time would just stop for them. 

            Slowly he felt Rukawa's hand on his chin. The blue-eyed fox turned Sakuragi's face to face his. They both stared at each other deeply, the blue eyes boring deep into the copper-brown ones. Words need not to be said. They knew what they want from each other. Soon, their lips met, kissing each other deeply…

            Suddenly Sakuragi felt a slight change in him. He knew this kind of feeling—it was the exact feeling when he had experienced the sex change done by Mido's sorcery. Just like that fateful day, he felt a slight heat radiating from inside his body and it soared from his fiery red head down to the tip of his toes. This time the effect was faster, about 7 ½ or so. Right before Rukawa's eyes, he had transformed from the male Sakuragi Hanamichi to the Sakuragi Minako Rukawa had come to know. Everything was exactly the same as before—a pair of D-cup women's breasts, his Adam's apple gone, his original broad shoulders shrunk a little to the size of an average workout woman, his waistline shrunk to fit a waist of a model, his arms and feet slender like a girl and his face a feminine look with a few itsy-bitsy traces of masculinity in it. Even his hair had grown back to the elbows' length.

            The two people were speechless for a moment there: Rukawa staring at Sakuragi and Sakuragi staring at his body change. What was going on here?! How did he turn back into a girl all of a sudden?!

            "Um…Sakuragi, what's going on here?" Rukawa finally found his voice.

            "I…I have no idea!! I don't know why this thing happened again!! Yada~!! Mido~!! Mido, what's going on here?!" Sakuragi practically panicked his head off.

            "Tell me you didn't give him the no bloodshed sex change magic, Mido," Ojisan Sakuragi, who saw everything, turned accusingly at the bronze-eyed neko. The other ancestors also did the same.

            "Eh he he he he~! Gomene…" Mido replied awkwardly. "I needed him to really blend in with the troop. Guess I forgot to tell him that this spell is permanent and that even if he experienced bloodshed and turned back to his original sex, whosoever from whatever sex that truly loves him kisses him, he will become the other sex permanently. (**A/N: Which means that if a girl kisses him, he would've stayed as a boy, but if a boy kisses him, he will turn to a girl**) Well…at least he's, I mean she's with someone she loves…right…?"

            Needless to say, he was kicked out of the ancestral pagoda by the angry ancestors and landed right in front of Sakuragi's feet. Noma flew towards his master—now mistress—and perched on her shoulder. Sakuragi was taken aback for a moment before she picked the neko up and asked, "What just happened?"

            "I'll have to say that I've become your permanent guardian from now on," Mido groaned, rubbing his aching head.

            "What just happened?! Why did I turn back into a girl?! What's going on here?!" Sakuragi shook Mido like a rag doll.

            "It's a long story. Believe me, it is."

            "Can someone please tell me what's going on here?" Rukawa's voice came out of the blue, his face showing a demanding look. Sakuragi grinned sheepishly.

            "Err…Are you still in for dinner then?"

            And so he did stay for dinner and the rest was pretty much history. And as the story came to a close, wedding bells were heard in winter where the snowflakes that fell from the heavens made the perfect confetti for our newly wed Mr. Sakuragi Kaede and Mrs. Sakuragi Minako @ Hanamichi.

            They lived, as expected, happily ever after.

A/N: Bravo, bravo, bravo~!!! Sugoi~!!! Our blue-eyed kitsune and our redhead do'aho have finally come together as one!! Well, I certainly enjoyed myself writing this! Phew! I couldn't believe I'm finally finished! See ya! Sayonara~!! *^_^*


End file.
